Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy 21 have filed a criminal complaint against Steve Bannon, the Trump campaign, the John Bolton Super PAC, Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, and SCL Elections, they announced Thursday evening.
“The law prohibits foreign nationals from participating, directly or indirectly, in elections in the United States,†said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder. “What’s worse than the fact that it apparently happened in this case is that the people involved apparently knew they were breaking the law and continued to do so anyway.â€
“The FBI should investigate whether SCL Elections, Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, Stephen Bannon, the John Bolton Super PAC, and the Trump campaign criminally violated federal law prohibiting foreign nationals from participating in American elections, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy 21,” they write in their complaint.
They laid out the how and why, “As recently reported by Britain’s Channel 4, numerous non-U.S. citizens appear to have participated in U.S. elections through work for SCL Elections Ltd., a corporation based in the United Kingdom, and Cambridge Analytica, its U.S. arm. Alexander Nix, a British national, directed much of this work in his role as a manager at Cambridge Analytica; Nix, in turn, was directed by Stephen Bannon, a co-founder of Cambridge Analytica. In particular, Nix and other SCL Elections Ltd. employees reportedly participated in strategic decision-making processes of John Bolton Super PAC, a U.S. political committee, starting as early as 2014, and according to Nix played a similar role in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
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They point out that Bannon can’t even claim ignorance because he was well aware that Cambridge Analytica failed to follow U.S. law regarding U.S. campaigns, “In 2016, Bannon left Cambridge Analytica for the Trump campaign, which then hired Cambridge Analytica despite Bannon’s knowledge that the company apparently failed to follow U.S. law prohibiting foreign nationals from participating substantially in U.S. campaigns.”
“These are very serious apparent violations of federal law,†Bookbinder said. “The Justice Department and the FBI should immediately commence an investigation into this matter and take appropriate action.â€
Just when you thought that Trump’s legal problems could not possibly get any worse, now he and his band of merry conspirators are facing a criminal complaint related to the help that they illegally accepted from Russia.
The Mueller investigation is the centerpiece, but it is not the be all and end all of the Russia scandal. Groups like CREW and Democracy 21 are taking action to protect our democracy. The people are rising up, and one way or another Trump and his accomplices will be held accountable.
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