Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign has been accused of breaking campaign finance laws by soliciting money from politicians and other people in other countries.
Two U.S. campaign finance watchdogs, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, have lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Trump’s presidential campaign Wednesday.
The complaint cited reports the Trump campaign sent out fundraising emails to people in Iceland, the United Kingdom and Australia.
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Although not mentioned in the complaint, similar emails were sent to Canadian email accounts as well — including to former prime minister Kim Campbell and Global News.
Campbell, who served as prime minister for nearly four months in 1993, said on Twitter last week she received one of the Trump campaign emails.
Global News received at least five emails from teamtrump@donaldjtrump.com this week, touting Trump for president and soliciting contributions to raise $10 million by midnight Thursday — the FEC’s second-quarter fundraising deadline.
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“Join my father and me, and chip in a $10, $20, $50, $100, or $250 contribution today. Will you help us SHOCK Hillary Clinton and the political establishment?,” read one email attributed to Trump’s son Eric.
A link directs to a secure login page and lists suggested contributions ranging from $10 to $2,700.
According to the FEC, which would not confirm to Global News whether it received the complaint nor comment on it, the U.S. has banned political contributions from foreign nationals — “donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly” — since 1966.
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Brendan Fischer, associate counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, told Global News the complaint is not a partisan attack on the Trump campaign but an effort to ensure campaigns are abiding by the law.
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He said the Center is also investigating complaints, on other grounds, against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
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Campaign teams, he said, have an obligation to ensure it’s not sending email solicitations to foreign nationals — least of all to foreign politicians through their official government email accounts.
“The U.K. politicians, for example, their email addresses ends in @parliament.uk which is a clear that the recipient lives in the U.K.,” Fischer explained. “So, there’s a minimal level of diligence that the Trump campaign should have done.”
Asked whether the emails could be coming from a source outside the Trump campaign, Fischer explained it’s “theoretically possible.”
“But all indications are that these are coming from the Trump campaign itself,” he said.
The donation emails — at least the ones sent to Global News — came from an email address that ends with @donaldjtrump.com while the email addresses for campaign staff end with @donaldtrump.com. All of the links in the emails, however, direct back to Trump’s website, where people can choose to donate money, and to official social media accounts.
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If an FEC investigation moves forward and the Trump campaign is found to have accepted donations from foreign contributors, Fischer said it would be appropriate for the commission to penalize the campaign.
“We think that’s important in order to send a message that campaigns have to be vigilant in upholding U.S law and upholding the ban on foreign money in U.S. elections.”
Fischer said the Center had not heard any reaction from Trump or his campaign team about the allegations. The Trump campaign did not respond to a Global News email request for comment.
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