“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,” Weintraub said in a statement on Twitter.
Without mentioning the President directly, the FEC chief directly addressed one of his comments in an interview earlier this week with ABC News.
“Any political campaign that receives an offer of a prohibited donation from a foreign source should report that to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Weintraub said, echoing calls by the FBI Director last month, and directly contradicting the President's statements from earlier this week.
I would not have thought that I needed to say this. pic.twitter.com/T743CsXq79
— Ellen L Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) June 13, 2019
"FBI Director Christopher Wray says campaigns should go to the FBI if they're offered political information by a foreign entity. Asked about those comments the president told ABC, the FBI director is wrong," @karentravers reports https://t.co/PXbsvEAwHw pic.twitter.com/5RrMOxUU8y
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 13, 2019
“Everybody in the country should be totally appalled by what the President said,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
“This one borders on so totally unethical that he doesn’t even realize it,” she added, as the President took flak from members of both parties.
“I think it's a mistake,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I don't want to send a signal to encourage this.”
About the Author