FEC Chair Breaks Silence After Trump’s Foreign Interference Comments: ‘It’s Illegal’

Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ellen Weintraub released a statement Thursday reiterating that it was “illegal” for anyone running for public office to “solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election.” “I would not have thought I needed to say this,” she tweeted while releasing the statement stressing that it is “100% illegal” to accept foreign assistance. If a campaign receives a “prohibited donation from a foreign source,” Weintraub said that behavior should be reported to the FBI. Weintraub also noted that such a practice was deemed “unacceptable” by America’s Founding Fathers, as they knew that such offers would seek to “advance” foreign interests rather than the United States’. “Anyone who solicits or accepts foreign assistance risks being on the wrong end of a federal investigation,” she wrote. Her statement comes after President Trump told ABC News that if foreign figures approached him or his campaign with dirt on one of his 2020 contenders, he would likely listen and not call the FBI. “I'd take it,” Trump told the network.