WASHINGTON – Republican John McCain on Monday raised the specter of illegal foreign contributions to rival Democrat Barack Obama by suggesting that a bulk purchase of T-shirts was sinister.

McCain said at a campaign rally that Obama had to return $33,000 to Palestinian donors. He left out that the donors were two Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip who bought $33,000 in T-shirts from Obama's campaign Web site.

McCain's remark came the same day that the Republican National Committee filed a complaint against Obama with the Federal Election Commission, questioning contributions he has received from donors living in foreign countries.

It is illegal for foreign citizens to contribute to U.S. political campaigns, but U.S. citizens living abroad may do so.

THE SPIN: “Why has Sen. Obama refused to disclose the names of people funding his campaign,” McCain said in Albuquerque, N.M. “His campaign had to return $33,000 in illegal foreign funds from Palestinian donors.”

THE FACTS: Obama, like McCain, discloses the names of all donors who contribute more than $200, as required by law.

But on his Web site, McCain also identifies small-dollar donors, those who contribute less than $200. Obama does not, despite requests from campaign finance watchdog groups that he identify smaller contributors at least by ZIP code or foreign country.

McCain's campaign said the reference to the Palestinian money was based on a Newsweek article that said Obama's campaign had returned the money to two brothers living in the Gaza Strip. According to the article, the two Palestinians “had bought T-shirts in bulk from the campaign's online store. They had listed their address as 'Ga.,' which the campaign took to mean Georgia rather than Gaza.”