Once again casting doubts on the fbi. The president of the United States all but telling foreign adversaries that as long as it benefits him, its open season on the 2020 election because hes never reached out to the fbi to report anything, even with all the unsavory characters he must have done business with over the years. And he is not about to start now. The web page is titled when to contact the fbi and provides a long list of suspicious items to get in touch with the bureau about, including, and im quoting here, suspicious activities that you believe threaten national security, especially suspicious activities that involve foreign powers or foreign organizations. It is without a doubt serious stuff, though you wouldnt know it listening to our president. The same man who hired all the people now in charge of national security, including the director of the fbi, who is responsible for protecting the country from foreign interference, and who has warned repeatedly that the russians are already hard at work trying to undermine u. S. Elections. In other words, even if it never occurred to him back then that foreign interference is wrong, hes now had more than two years to learn otherwise. Keeping them honest, though, listen again to what the president told Abcs George Stephanopoulos for the interview that aired last night and decide for yourself the lessons he drew. Okay, lets put yourself in a position. Youre a congressman. Somebody comes up and says hey, i have information on your opponent. Do you call the fbi . If its coming from russia, you do. Ive seen a lot of things over my life. I dont think in my whole life ive ever called the fbi. In my whole life. You dont call the fbi you. Throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever. Al gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the fbi. Thats different. A stolen briefing book. This is somebody who said we have information on your opponent. Oh, let me call the fbi. Give me a break. Life doesnt work like that. The fbi director says thats what should happen. The fbi director is wrong. The fbi director, he says, his handpicked fbi director is wrong for saying this. My view is that if any public official or member of any campaign is contacted by any nation state or anybody acting on behalf of a nation state about influencing or interfering with our election, then thats something that the fbi would want to know about. So got it . That guys boss says he is wrong. Today, with the boss words still echoing across washington, the boss showed no signs of regret. Tweeting i meet and talk to Foreign Governments every day. I just met with the queen of england, the prince of wales, the Prime Minister of ireland, the president of france and the president of poland. We talked about everything. Should i immediately call the fbi about these calls and meetings . How ridiculous. I would never be trusted again. Just on a purely factual basis, lets just think about what he just said. That argument, just on a purely factual basis is ridiculous. For starters, its not like the queen of england or the princess of wales or anyone on that list are adversaries with an interest in sowing chaos dissension in this country. The queen of england isnt selling julys to massively affect our election. The queen of england isnt figuring out who in the Trump Campaign she can meet with and coopt and nor is the queen of england over tea whispering i have dirt on Bernie Sanders and its snogging good. I dont know if snogging is actually a term. Remember, russia, the country he invited to hack in 2016 and says he might not drop a dime on this time says he is trying to influence our politics. Prince charles didnt approach donny jr. With disinformation that his son so eagerly anticipated. Russia did. The Prime Minister of poland didnt offer to set up a secret communication channel with the president s soninlaw at the polish embassy. That was the Russian Embassy and the russians. And yeah, the president and the people around him lied their heads off about all of it instead of calling the fbi. So the next beat to all of this today was, as it always is, what is anyone from the president s own party going to say about this . And on this one, maybe indicating the gravity of what the president said, some republicans, some, actually spoke out against him. If a Foreign Government comes to you as a public official and offers to help your campaign, giving you anything of value, whether it be money or information on your opponent, the right answer is no. In circumstances where a Foreign Government attempts to be involved in an american election, that would be simply unthinkable for a candidate for president to accept that involvement to encourage it, to participate with it in any way, shape or form. It would strike at the very heart of our democracy. Senator joni ernst said she would definitely alert an authority if approached. Thom tillis and cory gardner both said they would call the fbi. There are a few. However they are in the minority, even after what the president said yesterday and today Senate Republicans today blocked legislation that would force campaigns to notify the federal Election Commission and fbi about attempts by Foreign Nationals to influence an election. Oh, and over on the house side, republican minority leader Kevin Mccarthy turned the gas light up to 11. Ive watched this president. Ive listened to this president. He does not want Foreign Governments interfering in our election, and he has been very strong about that. Really . Very strong. Thats a term that a lot of people he used around the president. I know he likes the word strong, but how many televised addresses has the president given a warning for interference and outlined his plans to stop it . How many cabinet meetings has he held about this . How many times has he even tweeted about russia interfering without suggesting maybe it wasnt russia and it didnt happen . How many times has he undercut his own intelligence officials while siding with Vladimir Putin . I guess mccarthy is right when he says that President Trump has been very strong on Foreign Governments interfering in our elections. The problem is he has been and continues to be very strongly in favor of it. Meantime, the chair of the federal election committee, theyve just weighed in with a really extraordinary statement. This just happened, and i want to read to you the whole thing, because i think this is important. Weve only had a second to make a graphic of the entire page. So the type on your screen is small. With that, im quoting now, let me make something 100 clear to the American Public and Anyone Running for public office. It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value in connection with the u. S. Election. This is not a novel concept, they go on to say. Electoral intervention from Foreign Governments has been considered unacceptable since the beginnings of our nation. Our Founding Fathers sounded the alarm about, quote, foreign interference, intrigue, and influence. They knew that when Foreign Governments seek to influence american politics, it is always to advance their own interests, not americas. Anyone who solicits or accepts foreign assistance risks being on the wrong end of a federal investigation. Any Political Campaign that receives an offer of a prohibited donation from a foreign source should report that offer to the federal bureau of investigation. That is the head of the federal Election Commission. Lets get perspective now from strategic analyst, author and retired Army Lieutenant colonel ralph peters, his latest a novel of stonewall jacksons triumph and tragedy. Colonel peters, this statement from the fec chair, it is stunning that a, they put this out and that they felt the need to put out what is so glaringly obvious. Well, the integrity of our elections is absolutely fundamental to our system. And earlier trump comes up with his own oneliners, but when you were talking and trump is saying well i never called the fbi. My thought was of course not. Criminals dont call the fbi. But this is a president , anderson, who i think is increasingly desperate. And he will ignore the Election Commission. He will ignore good advice because he is so desperate to get reelected. And now i think very afraid. Speaker pelosi last week used the magic word. She was talking about prison time. And this president knows that if he is not reelected, you know, the coach turns into a pumpkin. He is vulnerable to prosecution. And even if he goes for two terms, he will spend the rest of his life in courtrooms or avoiding courtrooms. So i think this is a man who is genuinely afraid, and he will indeed take help from wherever he can get it, russia, china, you name it. And, you know, also, ironically, ironically, we have been criticizing this man for lying and lying and lying and lying and lying and lying some more. And now were on him for being honest. For once, trump told the truth. He would welcome foreign help from a hostile power. Well, you know, the thing, you were an intelligence officer. You know how russian agents operate. You know, theyre not giving, you know, information its not just opposition research, as the president says. This can just as easily be disinformation and more than likely is disinformation. And the idea that President Trump would want to look at it and maybe act on it anyway, it just seems incredibly i mean naive, corrupt, wrong. There is a fundamental difference between the russian intelligence operations back in my day and those today, and its not the internet. Its not distorted images, et cetera. The difference is in the past we resisted. And now we have an american president who welcomes russian espionage operations. And thats indeed what they are. So we are gravely and grotesquely threatened. And by the way, its not just foreign interference. As trump grows increasingly desperate, unless the dems selfdestruct, which they may, and the polls turn against them, youre going to see more domestic shenanigans, bending and breaking of domestic laws. And if trump is defeated, he will not accept a defeat. He will protest and try to raise his supporters ire. And if that doesnt work, he will go on a rampage between election day and Inauguration Day and do as much damage as he can, much of it out of spite, much of it to advantage himself. So no matter what happens, were in for almost two years more of grave danger to the United States of america. The president s tweet today, saying he wouldnt immediately call the fbi after meeting the queen of england and the prince of wales, first of all meeting with a royal on an overseas trip, thats fulfilling your duties. There is a difference between diplomacy and intelligence agents reaching out trying to probe your campaign and give you what they say is dirt. Yeah, indeed. And by the way, snogging is a word, speaking of the queen. Indeed. And trump just has a different view of the world than you and i, or most normal people do, than most americans. Even trumps own supporters, i believe in their hearts see the world very differently than he does. But they have drunk the kool aid. For instance, an example. If i say to you just the words the founding of our nation, our roots, what comes to mind . The minutemen at lexington and concord or the declaration of independence. You say americas roots to trump, and he thinks of the dutch cheating the indians in the First Manhattan real estate deal. He doesnt know our history. He doesnt know the constitution. He doesnt know our values. Its astonishing how much damage he has already done, but you aint seen nothing yet. Colonel peters, appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you. Coming up next, more on the legalities and the counterintelligence implications of all of this. And later, the departure of Sarah Sanders after 94 days of not doing what secretaries usually do every single day. Iphone xr, ivee when they join tmobile . For a limited time, join tmobile and get the awesome iphone xr on us. Your but as you get older,hing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. 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The president said this, tweeting this morning, i talk to Foreign Governments every day. I just met with the queen of england, the prince of wales, the pm of ireland, the president of france. The president of poland. We talked about everything. Should i immediately call the fbi about these meetings . Ridiculous. I would never be trusted again. Thats assuming he is trusted right now. The queen of england, the prince of wales always say, you know, snitches get stitches. Thats what they say. Theyre known for saying that joining us now to talk about the laws that do and dont apply here as well as the counterintelligence considerations. Jim baker whose tweet today alerted us to that fbi web page. And carrie cordero. Jim, so the fec, the head of the fec certainly doesnt leave any doubt as to whether or not this would break the law. And the fact that she felt compelled to put this out is very telling. Its very telling. And to me what jumped out was looking back at the Mueller Report today, one of the reasons that they decided that there was no prosecutable case there was because of the issues around the intent thats required by the statute. And the fec chairperson speaking publicly about this and basically putting all campaigns on notice about what the law is, a very clear, short understandable statement, i think that makes a big difference. And that will undercut anybody in the future who tries to claim that they didnt know that this was somehow federal law that this was somehow prohibited. So i think its a very important thing that she did. Carrie, is there any gray area when it comes to law on this . Does a lot hinge on whats considered to be something of value . It does. Under the campaign law, it would have to be a thing of value. And so thats where we really get into some gray space. We have to remember sorry, is opposition research, as the president called it, a thing of value . Well, we could make an argument that it is. Most foreign interference or Foreign Campaign donations have to do with money. So most of the case law has to do with the application of money. But we have to remember that the russian interference activity in 2016 was an intelligence operation, and so to assume that future activities would be intelligence operations by russia or any other hostile nation means that theyre going to try to get around the law. So its wonderful that the commissioner issued this statement, because she is putting the u. S. Candidates and campaigns on notice that they are at risk of becoming under investigation. But that doesnt dissuade, thats not going to dissuade Foreign Countries from trying to do this activity, especially now if they know that at least one candidate is open to their assistance. Jim, a lot of republicans today were drawing a parallel between this and the steele dossier, which was paid for in part by the clinton campaign. Is it the same at all in terms of legality . No, its apples and oranges. On the one hand, youre talking about as director mueller stated in his press statement, a concerted attack by military and intelligence elements of the russian federation. So thats just obviously unacceptable. The steele dossier, he was a Foreign National to be sure who was hired by a group of americans, the