Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign team in Alaska includes a former state lawmaker who served prison time for corruption.
Republican Tom Anderson, who was named Monday as Trump's press representative in the state, was convicted in 2007 of bribery, extortion, money laundering and conspiracy for accepting bribes from a private prison company in exchange for advancing the company's interests in the Alaska legislature. He served four years in federal prison and was released in 2011.
Anderson was listed as the press contact on Monday's announcement naming an assortment of state Republicans to Trump Alaska 2016, the campaign organization for the presumptive GOP nominee.
He is now a managing partner of Optima Public Relations, a firm founded by his father, Tom Anderson Sr., in 2011 -- weeks before Anderson was released from prison.
Anderson also hosts "The Tom Anderson Show," a morning radio program. On Monday, he teased a scoop ahead of the formal release of "who the Policy Platform Committee members and Honorary Co-Chairs will be for the Trump Alaska 2016 organization. Don't miss it. Big names!"
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday night.
UPDATE: Reached by phone, Anderson told the Huffington Post, "I wanted to get involved with the presidential campaign, and I helped the Trump Alaska 2016 team craft a press release. I also offered to help with media relations. I am not a member of the Trump campaign staff, and I'm not working for any presidential campaign. I look forward to a vigorous 2016 general election."
Read the entire Trump campaign announcement below.
Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
