The Federal Elections Commission's fines of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee for concealing payments for the anti-Trump Steele dossier at the center of the Russia collusion hoax have been described as a slap on the wrist.

The Clinton camp must pay only $8,000 and the DNC just $105,000.

But constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley, a lifelong Democrat, argues in a column Thursday that it's "the basis" of the FEC's penalties "rather than the size of the fine that is so notable."

On Tuesday, the FEC announced it found that payments from the Clinton campaign and the DNC to the company that oversaw the work of former British spy Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS, were funneled through the law firm Perkins Coie and Elias.