Former White House Ethics Lawyers Say Trump Jr. Committed Serious Crime
Former ethics lawyers for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Richard Painter and Norman Eisen, respectively, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times blasting Donald Trump Jr.
The op-ed titled, “Did Donald Jr. Break the Law?” reads, “It raises a host of potential criminal and other legal violations for Donald Jr. and others involved, including his brother-in-law Jared Kushner; Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman at the time; and perhaps the president himself.”
“But,” the former ethics lawyers warned, the investigation has a long way to go before giving a verdict on the situation.
“Although we do not yet have enough facts to judge, Donald Jr. and others may also be liable for conspiracy with respect to espionage, depending on how any illicit information was obtained and the level of their awareness of any spying,” the former ethics czars wrote.
Painter and Eisen also take aim at Trump Jr.’s argument that the meeting was nothing.
“The defense that this was a routine meeting to hear about opposition research is nonsense,” they wrote. “As ethics lawyers, we have worked on political campaigns for decades and have never heard of an offer like this one.”
The two lawyers said that the actions taken by Trump Jr., along with the others who attended the meeting, violated campaign finance laws.
“The promised Russian ‘documents and information’ would have been an illegal campaign contribution from a foreign government — and a priceless one.”
Then the wording of Trump Jr. on Twitter this morning saying, “I love it” to the meeting could be worse than him taking the meeting.
“Welcoming the information and taking the meeting can reasonably be understood to signal a broader receptivity to Russian aid,” the two wrote.
“This is even more serious than the campaign finance violation because it brings conspiracy law into play. That could make Donald Jr. and others liable for all of the Russian dirty tricks that followed, including any Russian cybercrimes or other crimes targeting the Clinton campaign.”
You can read the full op-ed here.
[image via screenshot]
