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Wall and government shut-down distracts media away from Trump crimes
Trump illegally asked Russia to help him win in 2016. He shouldn't get away with it.
Fred Wertheimer and Norman Eisen, Published 5:00 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2019 | Updated 8:50 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2019
Prosecutors triggered a national firestorm last month when they asserted that President Donald Trump conspired with his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, to commit campaign finance crimes involving hush money payments to two women. But the discussion has so far overlooked another Trump campaign finance offense — one that is even easier to prove because it occurred in plain sight.
On July 27, 2016, Trump called on Russia to find presidential Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s missing emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump proclaimed. He added, “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Federal campaign finance law prohibits any person from soliciting campaign contributions, defined as anything of value to be given to influence an election, from a foreign national, including a foreign government.
In asking Russia to find Clinton’s emails, presidential candidate Trump violated this statutory prohibition on seeking help from a foreign country to influence an election. Trump in essence called on a foreign adversary to locate and release something that was of great value to him and his campaign. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/01/02/trump-broke-law-russia-clinton-emails-hold-him-accountable-column/2449564002/
Fred Wertheimer and Norman Eisen, Published 5:00 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2019 | Updated 8:50 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2019
Prosecutors triggered a national firestorm last month when they asserted that President Donald Trump conspired with his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, to commit campaign finance crimes involving hush money payments to two women. But the discussion has so far overlooked another Trump campaign finance offense — one that is even easier to prove because it occurred in plain sight.
On July 27, 2016, Trump called on Russia to find presidential Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s missing emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump proclaimed. He added, “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Federal campaign finance law prohibits any person from soliciting campaign contributions, defined as anything of value to be given to influence an election, from a foreign national, including a foreign government.
In asking Russia to find Clinton’s emails, presidential candidate Trump violated this statutory prohibition on seeking help from a foreign country to influence an election. Trump in essence called on a foreign adversary to locate and release something that was of great value to him and his campaign. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/01/02/trump-broke-law-russia-clinton-emails-hold-him-accountable-column/2449564002/
In an interview, Pelosi told USA TODAY over the weekend Trump is "being a fear monger" by asserting immigrants will bring drugs and other dangers into the USA.
Trump ran for president on a promise to strengthen immigration restrictions and build the wall. He took heat from conservatives after the White House initially signaled an openness to a short-term funding measure that would have kept government agencies opened but would not have significantly increased funding border barriers.
"He talked about terrorists coming in over that particular border, which wasn't so. He talked about people bringing in diseases and all the rest of that, which wasn't so," said Pelosi, D-Calif., who is likely to become speaker after Democrats take over the House of Representatives next month. "He's using scare tactics that are not evidence-based, and it's wrong."
Pelosi mocked the shifting message from the White House about whether Trump wanted a "wall," a fence or some other structure. "First of all, the fact ... that he says, ‘We're going to build a wall with cement, and Mexico's going to pay for it’ while he's already backed off of the cement – now he's down to, I think, a beaded curtain or something, I'm not sure where he is," Pelosi said.
A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
The Senate isn't set to meet again until Thursday at the earliest, and White House officials predicted the shutdown could continue into the new Congress, which will begin Jan. 3. Democrats will take control of the House on that day, and Pelosi said she expects the chamber will pass legislation to reopen federal agencies quickly. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/25/government-shutdown-donald-trump-democrats-odds-over-border-wall/2409226002/
