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THREAD: Late last night u2013 I asked the Presidentu2019s lawyers a pretty simple question: Does President Trump agree that foreignersu2019 involvement in American elections is illegal?
Their answer was stunning u2013 and left me and many of my colleagues even more alarmed than before.
Their answer was stunning u2013 and left me and many of my colleagues even more alarmed than before.
First u2013 some context.
Weu2019re conducting this impeachment trial to determine whether President Trump abused his power and worked with a foreign government (Ukraine) to interfere in our 2020 election, but weu2019ve seen President Trump do similar things before.
Weu2019re conducting this impeachment trial to determine whether President Trump abused his power and worked with a foreign government (Ukraine) to interfere in our 2020 election, but weu2019ve seen President Trump do similar things before.
Remember - in July 2016, Pres. Trump, in response to a question about reports that Russia was behind the theft of emails from the DNC, said, u201cRussia if youu2019re listening, I hope youu2019re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missingu201d from Hillary Clintonu2019s private email server.
In June 2019, Pres. Trump said that if Russia or China offered information on his opponent, u2018[t]hereu2019s nothing wrong with listening,u201d and that, u201cif somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] u2018we have information on your opponentu2019 u2013 oh, I think Iu2019d want to hear it.u201d
President Trump also stated then that he might not alert the FBI because: u201cGive me a break.u201d
Then, back to the case at hand: in July 2019, President Trump demanded, over the phone, that Ukrainian President Zelensky u201cdo us a favoru201d by opening an investigation into President Trumpu2019s leading political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Thatu2019s why I was surprised u2013 and even encouraged u2013 when the Presidentu2019s lawyers said in their impeachment trial brief:
u2018Congress has forbidden foreignersu2019 involvement in American electionsu2019.
u2018Congress has forbidden foreignersu2019 involvement in American electionsu2019.
So u2013 I asked the Presidentu2019s lawyers a simple question: does the President agree with the statement in your brief, that foreignersu2019 involvement in American elections is illegal?
This is where it gets disturbing.
This is where it gets disturbing.
Patrick Philbin, a member of the Presidentu2019s legal team, started by dodging the question, but then, he said something that made my jaw drop: he said, effectively, that itu2019s OK for the President to accept and then use dirt on other candidates that he gets from foreign countries.
Here& #39;s the exact quote: u201cI think that the idea that any information that happens to come from overseas is necessarily campaign interference is a mistake.u201d
And: "Information that is credible that potentially shows wrongdoing by someone who happens to be running for office, if itu2019s credible information, is relevant information for the voters to know about for people to be able to decide on who is the best candidate for an office.u201d
This is the Presidentu2019s counsel, on the floor of the United States Senate, saying that itu2019s OK for the President to use information from foreign governments, including hostile ones, to get elected.
Letu2019s be clear about what Russia and China just heard u2013 an invitation.
Russiau2019s listening u2013 theyu2019re hearing loud and clear that they should continue to help the Presidentu2019s campaign.
China& #39;s listening, too: theyu2019re hearing loud and clear that they can get away with helping President Trump with his re-election campaign, and it might help them in their trade negotiations with us.
Regardless of what happens in this impeachment trial u2013 we canu2019t let this slide.
Republicans and Democrats need to stand up, together, and say clearly that we will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections.
This is a principle as old as our country itself, and if we lose sight of it, we are lost.
This is a principle as old as our country itself, and if we lose sight of it, we are lost.
