Politics

Accused Murderer Robert Durst Donated To Democratic Campaign Committees

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Robert Durst — the eccentric son of a New York real estate mogul who was arrested over the weekend after a HBO documentary shed light on three killings he is suspected of being involved in — has donated money to two Democratic campaign committees.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Durst in 2000 donated a total of $625 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 1996, Durst gave $846 to the Democratic National Committee.

Records show that Durst listed 205 Associates, the former name of a corporation registered to his family’s Durst Organization, as the place of his employment.

Durst’s contributions to these committees fall in between the times he has found himself accused of being involved in three different murders.

Durst’s bizarre life story is the subject of the new HBO documentary, “The Jinx.” The six-part series, which had its finale Sunday night, explores what role Durst had in the disappearance and assumed death of his first wife in New York in 1982, the execution-style murder of his best friend in California in 2000 and the shooting and dismembering of his neighbor in Texas in 2001.

In 2003, Durst went on trial for killing his neighbor, Morris Black. He admitted to cutting up Black’s body and throwing away the remaining parts in Galveston Bay. Yet Durst, who claimed he killed Black in self-defense and that he dismembered the body out of fear that no one would believe him, was acquitted of murder in that case.

Though he has long being suspected of murdering his wife Kathleen Durst and longtime friend Susan Berman in separate instances, Durst, until this weekend, had never been charged in either of those deaths.

On Sunday night, “The Jinx” revealed new evidence indicating Durst was the person who sent a note to police in Los Angeles alerting them to Berman’s dead body. The series also ended with Durst, wearing a microphone during a visit to a bathroom after being interviewed for the documentary, mumbling to himself: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

On Saturday night, Durst was arrested in New Orleans for Berman’s murder.

Records indicate that Durst has donated to several other federal political candidates over the years. While he mostly gave money to Democrats, he also contributed to several Republican candidates too.

In 1998, Durst donated to GOP congressional candidate Stephanie Kupferman and Democratic congressional candidate George Bachrach. In 1991, he donated to Republican congressional candidate Daniel Branch. In 1990, he donated to Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Claiborne Pell and in 1993, he donated to Nebraska Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey.

The Daily Caller has reached out to the two Democratic campaign committees for comment.

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