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Trump interview: Election commission issues warning after president admits he would take information on rivals from foreign powers

'I would not have thought that I needed to say this'

Andrew Buncombe
Seattle
Thursday 13 June 2019 20:42 BST
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'There's nothing wrong with listening' Donald Trump says he would accept dirt from foreigners about political opponents

The head of America’s election commission has issued a stern warning about illegal interference in the electoral process, a day after the president said he would likely accept damaging information about a rival from a foreign nation.

Barely 24 hours after Donald Trump caused jaws to drop by saying he may not contact the FBI if approached by a foreign country with information that could help his 2020 reelection bid, the chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) said it was against the law to “solicit, accept or receive” anything of value from a foreign national in relation to an election.

Posting a statement on Twitter, a statement she said she “would not have thought I needed to say”, Ellen Weintraub apparently responded to Mr Trump, without naming him.

“Let me make something 100 per cent clear to the American public and anyone running for public office,” she wrote.

“It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a US election.”

Ms Weintraub, who was appointed to the commission by George W Bush in 2002 and elected its chair for 2019, said the distaste of foreign interference in elections was “not a novel concept” for the country.

“Our Founding Fathers sounded the alarm about ‘foreign interference, intrigue, and influence’,” she wrote.

“They knew that when foreign governments seek to influence American politics, it is always to advance their own interests, not America’s.”

In an interview with ABC News, part of which were broadcast on Wednesday, Mr Trump suggested he would accept dirt on an opponent offered by a foreign country.

“I think maybe you do both,” he said, asked if he would call the FBI or accept any material.

“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ – oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”

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When it was pointed out that FBI director Christopher Wray said last month in congressional testimony his organisation would want to hear about any foreign election meddling, the president dismissed it.

“The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn’t happen like that in life,” Mr Trump said. “Now maybe it will start happening, maybe today you’d think differently.”

He said he had “seen a lot in his life” but that he had never called the FBI.

“In my whole life. You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do,” he said. “Oh, give me a break – life doesn’t work that way.”

Mr Trump’s interview sparked widespread outcry, and more demands from Democrats that he be impeached, a move House speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far resisted.

On Thursday she told reporters Mr Trump’s comments represented “an ‘assault on our democracy”.

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