(06-19-2019 03:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(06-19-2019 03:25 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(06-19-2019 03:15 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(06-19-2019 03:04 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(06-19-2019 02:45 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  So it doesn’t matter if the info comes from foreigners? Isn’t that what I have been saying?

Do you actually thinking interviewing a foreign national and a foreign government offering assistance are the same thing?

They both involve getting information from foreigners.

Explain how that is materially different in terms of the election law.

In terms of campaign law, because one is receiving something of value directly from a foreign entity without paying for it and making that information public, and the other is not. One is a contribution and the other is a purchase.

You could literally drill down far enough to every contribution made to a campaign and find that it came from a foreign country - which is why the difference above matters. That sign donated to Trump - well it was made in China. What about those shirts that were donated - made in Vietnam. How about those hard earned dollars Bob in Minneapolis donated - well he works for a company based in Ireland.

I actually found this article after I typed out the above response, and amazingly it said almost the same thing:

Quote:Experts told me that when it comes to campaign finance law, hiring or contracting a foreigner to do services for a campaign is allowed. “You can pay a foreign national to provide you with services, so a campaign, for instance, could have a campaign attorney who is a Canadian citizen,” Levinson said. “As long as you pay fair market rates for those services, that’s not what the federal campaign act says is prohibited. That’s just a fair exchange of money for services.”

If this kind of seems like a loophole, experts pointed out that it would be really hard to run a campaign otherwise. It would mean having to worry if the campaign signs you printed came from a foreign company, or if the catering firm you hired had foreign workers.

https://www.vox.com/2019/6/14/18677631/t...llegal-fbi

So, hiring Steele to make coffee or hand out flyers is legal.

So, I guess in your mind, hiring him to did up dirt from Russians is the same.

BTW, was the crap the Russians fed him gratis, or did he pay for it?

In the eyes of campaign finance law, which is what you are asking about, yes, hiring a foreign national to do work for you is legal because you are paying for it and reporting it. It is therefore not a contribution.

I don't know campaign finance law well enough to know whether or not him paying for information himself would be of concern.