Political Quotes

“Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk for the President's counsel. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The question from Senator Coons to the President's counsel is this: The President's brief states, ``Congress has forbidden foreigners' involvement in American elections.'' However, in June 2019, President Trump said if Russia or China offered information on his opponent, ``[t]here's nothing wrong with listening,'' and he might not alert the FBI because: ``Give me a break. Life doesn't work that way.'' Does President Trump agree with your statement that foreigners' involvement in American elections is illegal? Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice, Senator, thank you for the question. I think Congress has specified specific ways in which foreigners cannot be involved in elections. Foreigners can't vote in elections. There are restrictions on foreign contributions to campaigns--things like that. When the whistleblower originally made a complaint about this July 25 call, and that was reviewed by the inspector general for the intelligence community, he framed that whistleblower's complaint and wrote a cover letter framing it in terms of those laws. And he said that there might be an issue here related to soliciting a foreign contribution to a campaign, a thing of value, foreign campaign interference. That was specifically reviewed by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice concluded that there was no such violation here.…”