Coming one day after Donald Trump's interview with ABC''s George Stephanopolis, in which Trump dismissively claimed that, of course, he would accept "dirt" on an opponent from anyone, including a representative of a foreign government., He says every politician does it, and seemed unaware that it was a federal crime, referring to it simply as "opposition research."
Would he notify the FBI, Stephanopolis asked, "Why would I? I've never called the FBI in my life," was Trump's initial reply. Only after repeated questioning, did Trump pick up some indication that maybe there was something wrong with his answer. So when asked again what he would do if he had an overture from some foreign agent in the 2020 election, he replied: "Maybe you do both. I'd definitely would want to listen to what they had; and maybe, if was something bad, you might call the FBI."
Here, Trump completely ignores the reason behind this prohibition. It makes him vulnerable to blackmail and control by this foreign government -- or even an individual. It could be a way for other countries to control our electoral process, the choice of our leader, and the direction of our governance.
One day after this interview aired, the astonished head of the Federal Elections Commission, Ellen Weintraub, put out a notice and that began with this: "I would not have thought I would need to say this:" and then continued with a formal notice:
"Let me make something 100% clear to the American people and to anyone running for public office. It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept. Election intervention from foreign governments has been considered unacceptable from the beginning of our nation. Our Founding Fathers sounded the alarm about "foreign Interference, Intrigue, and Influence." They knew that when foreign governments seek to influence American politics, it is always to advance their own interests, not America's. Anyone who solicits or accepts foreign assistance risks being on the wrong end of a federal investigation. Any political campaign that receives an offer of a prohibited donation from a foreign source should report that offer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Anyone who has gone through a presidential campaign -- or even been interested in presidential politics over a few decades -- should know this, because it has been widely discussed in the past. How could it not have been part of the discussion of how to craft the explanation of Don, Jr.'s meeting with Russians in Trump Tower? You cannot accept anything of value, whether it be financial donations, in-kind material assistance, or useful information or services, And it's not just foreign governments but foreign nationals, i.e., citizens of a foreign country.
Almost every election cycle, there is news about some campaign having to return a contribution when it was learned the person was a foreign national. It's even happened quite recently in the Trump camp, when the Chinese woman got entry at Mar-a-Lago, claiming that she had been invited to a meeting there. It turned out she is an influence peddler in China and was taking huge sums of money to get people into meetings with Trump -- portions of which she was then making as donations to Trump. She is now under indictment. Surely word of this reached Trump.
Either Trump really does know this and is being "willfully ignorant," or else he is blatantly showing his disregard for the law and stating by his actions that he is above the law.
Nothing before seems to have upset Republicans in Congress quite like this has. Perhaps (I hope) it's because it proves more clearly than before that Trump really is a lawless president and thinks the laws don't apply to him -- or else he will just flout them and see if anybody does anything about it. And, when they don't, then he has established new norms.
This is the behavior of mobsters and sociopaths.
Ralph
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