Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire testified Thursday that he was unsure if it was illegal to solicit or accept anything of value from a foreign national in connection with an election.
It is with great side eye that we report Maquire did this during a hearing about a whistleblower complaint surrounding the accusation — backed up by evidence supplied from this White House no less — that President Trump extorted Ukraine to interfere in 2020.
Watch here:
Mcguire says that he doesn't know if it is illegal for Trump to accept or solicit foreign help in an election. (It is). #whistleblowercomplaint pic.twitter.com/T7piZJkBTm
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 26, 2019
Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA): It is illegal for any person to accept, solicit or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. Election. This is not a novel concept. Election intervention from foreign governments has been considered unacceptable since the beginnings of our nation. Do you agree with the FEC chair Weintraub?
Maguire: I agree our elections are sacred, and any interference from an outside source is not what we want —
Heck: And to solicit or accept it is illegal?
Maquire: I don’t know about that. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t mean to be evasive.
Heck: So you think it is okay for a public official to solicit — it may be okay. You don’t know the law in this regard. You think it may be okay for a candidate or elected official to solicit foreign interference in our election? I can’t believe you’re saying that. You’re not saying that, are you?
Maguire: I’m not saying that, Congressman Heck, at all.
Heck: We should note the FEC chair was prompted to say this was it was just writ rally the day before that the president of the United States sat at the resolute desk in the most iconic room in the United States, the oval office, and said FBI director WRAY was wrong. You’re obviously disagreeing with that. He also said he would consider accepting foreign help and, of course, yesterday we learned that the president did, in fact, did, in fact, do exactly that, solicited that help. Director, whether it’s this president or any president, do you believe it is okay for the president of the United States to pressure a foreign country into helping him or her win an election?
Maguire: Congressman Heck, I believe that no one is above the law. We’ve discussed what we think applies to the law.
Heck: So it is illegal to solicit?
Maguire: I can’t answer that.
Heck: I can’t reconcile your two statements. Is it okay for a president to pressure — any president to pressure a foreign government for help to win an election?
Maguire: It is unwarranted, it is unwelcome, it is bad for the nation to have outside interference in any foreign power.
Maguire’s job as DNI to serve as head of the Intelligence Community, oversee the National Intelligence Program and serve as an advisor to the President, if asked, about national security. He is also supposed to be protecting U.S. elections.
“It’s concerning that the acting DNI, who says his duties include protecting US elections from foreign interference, doesn’t know if it is illegal to solicit or accept anything of value from a foreign national in connection with an election. It is and here’s the law,” legal expert Larry Noble pointed out.
It's concerning that the acting DNI, who says his duties include protecting US elections from foreign interfence, doesn't know if it is illegal to solicit or accept anything of value from a foreign national in connection with an election. It is and here's the law. pic.twitter.com/SlEEXLBent
— Larry Noble (@LarryNoble_DC) September 26, 2019
I’m no legal expert and I’m not being paid by the taxpayers to know these things, but this seems pretty clear:
a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for—… (2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.
Maquire added that the most urgent threat America faces isn’t a military strike, but an attempt to undermine the integrity of our elections.
DNI just said that the most urgent threat America faces is not a military strike from a foreign nation but an attempt to undermine the integrity of our election system. Let that sink in.
— John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) September 26, 2019
So Maguire knows that the biggest threat we face isn’t a military strike, but yet another attack on our “free” elections. But he’s not sure if it’s illegal to accept help.
This is called the careful tap dance of the mob boss’ henchman.
Walt Shaub pointed out how Maquire talks out of both sides of his mouth:
Maguire relies on executive privilege but then admits there was no assertion of executive privilege. Yet he missed the deadline for turning over the complaint. He says he's not authorized to waive executive privilege. But he's not authorized to assert it either.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) September 26, 2019
Anyone who willingly works for Donald Trump at this point is going to be committing crimes or covering up the committing of crimes.
Maguire knows that the biggest threat we face is election interference, and yet he is claiming he didn’t know what President Donald Trump was doing in extorting Ukraine to help him cheat in 2020 was illegal. That doesn’t pass any smell test.
It’s even tougher to buy given that the White House deliberately hid what Trump was doing, by ‘locking down’ evidence of his behavior.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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