Mike Thompson: “As I look over the original scope that the Senator referred to that came out of the Governmental Affairs Committee, a…”

“As I look over the original scope that the Senator referred to that came out of the Governmental Affairs Committee, a few things jump out at me that I think clearly come within our jurisdiction, or in the scope as we now have it. Foreign contributions are clearly illegal, not only improper; conflicts of interest resulting in misuse of Government offices, failure by Federal Government employees to maintain or observe legal barriers between fundraising and official business, certainly are within the scope of illegal or improper. I think there are others here that fit that category. Frankly, I think there are some other categories where it is not so clear. We are dealing with categories of activities here. It is very difficult for me to, with great precision, say what category in any given set of circumstances might or might not fall within our scope. Many times the answer depends upon the facts of the case. You might have a certain activity that may or may not be improper, depending on facts that we do not know yet.”