Trump welcomes foreign interference in 2020 campaign
Shockingly – if anything shocks anymore – President Donald Trump told ABC news Wednesday that he need not tell the FBI if the Russians once again reached out with an offer of “dirt” on his opponents in the race for president. When Trump was told that Christopher Wary, the FBI director the president himself appointed, said last month that this kind of attempted foreign election interference was something that should be reported to federal law enforcement, Trump’s response was: “That’s wrong!”
The good news is that Congress is already working on this issue. The Anti-Collusion Act, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), would require everyone running for federal, state, or local office to report offers of assistance from a foreign government or agent of a foreign government to the Department of Justice. These “suspicious activity reports,” as they are labeled within the bill, are required when, among things, suspected foreign powers offer opposition research, polling data, and other information reasonably believed to have been acquired via unlawful means. [Continue reading…]
A simple idea underpins the nation’s democratic tradition: Americans elect America’s leaders. But that notion at times seems lost on Trump. His comments to ABC, for one, echoed remarks he made almost three years ago, when he famously called on Russia to help recover 30,000 emails deleted from Clinton’s private server. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said during a news conference. Though he later said he had been joking, he fooled Russia. That same day, Russians for the first time tried to hack into Clinton’s server, according to Mueller’s investigation.
More recently, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, was planning a trip to Ukraine, in part to urge the government to investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son. Such an investigation could potentially embarrass the former vice president. But given the post-2016 sensitivities, it was a risk to Trump, too; Giuliani canceled the trip last month amid public accusations that he was soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 race.
Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told me last night that Trump is sending an unmistakable message to nations eager to curry favor. “What foreign powers will conclude from this is that if they want to help the Trump campaign, the Trump campaign is open for business, just as they were in 2016,” Schiff said. “The president has only increased the risk of further foreign interference in the next election.” [Continue reading…]