Trump campaign files FEC complaint alleging foreign interference from the UK Labor party.

 

Donald Trump. The Telegraph/AP.

The Trump campaign has filed an Federal Election Commission complain against the UK's Labor party alleging foreign interference. The Telegraph.  The accusation is based on an effort from Sofia Patel, the head of operations for the Labor Party, to organize UK citizens to campaign for Harris in the US "swing states" of Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. 100 Labor volunteers were supposedly used in this effort. The FEC is unlikely to act on the accusation before the election but they could levy fines. The incident could damage the "special relationship" between the United States and United Kingdom. 

My Comment:

This is a pretty major diplomatic incident and is not something that the United States should tolerate. Having Labor Party staff going door to door to help the Kamala Harris campaign is election interference, no doubt. It's also not something America can tolerate.

After all, Russia bought a few hundred thousands of dollars in advertisements on Facebook in 2016 and it Trump's first term was dominated by the news for years. And those advertisements were just that, ads, the UK's Labor Party is actively campaigning for Harris now. If Russia was a big deal, then certainly this is as well? 

So is this illegal? There isn't a law saying that foreign citizens can't volunteer with a political campaign, even though there probably should be. What the problem is that the Labor Party itself appears to be coordinating with the Harris campaign, which is illegal. The problem is in the Sofia Patel post, which has since been deleted, where she said "we will sort your housing". How do you do that without spending money? That's the kill shot for this scandal, if they, either Labor or the Harris campaign, are paying for the housing for these folks as they knock on doors then it's illegal. The FEC will have to investigate this and I hope that they levy fines against both parties. 

It would be a major diplomatic incident regardless. It seems clear that Trump is going to win the election, which I will probably detail in an upcoming post, and if that happens, then he is going to remember that this happened. He's going to hold a grudge against Kier Starmer, the Prime Minster of the UK, because of this, and why wouldn't he? Labor would certainly be upset if the Republican Party had sent people to the United Kingdom to campaign on the behalf of the Tories, so it's little wonder why the reverse is also going to infuriate people. 

It's especially infuriating due to the historical context. America fought not one but two wars against the United Kingdom for this very reason, we don't want them to have a say on who we vote for. The idea that there are folks on the payroll of the Labor Party knocking on doors in swing states is pretty deeply disturbing to me in a way it wouldn't be if it was some other country, like France or Mexico. 

As an aside, I have to note that Labor was sending these volunteers to swing states... and Virginia. Virginia hasn't really been considered a swing state, and the polling hasn't been close there recently, but the fact that they are sending volunteers there shows that it probably is in play. I am guessing the internal polls are not doing well, and given what I have heard about early voting, Trump might have a chance to pick up the state. That is pretty terrible news for the Harris campaign...