U.S. election laws never contemplated a foreign power inventing fake news and spreading it on the internet to influence an election.
WASHINGTON – When Russian leader Vladimir Putin meddled in key Rust Belt states to help Donald Trump become president, he also may have exposed an election law loophole big enough to drive busloads of Macedonian internet trolls through.
Fabricated claims about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s poor health, impending indictment, even involvement in a pizza-parlor based pedophilia ring that were then amplified and recirculated by Kremlin-paid hackers may have helped Trump win critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
But it’s not clear that paying for the creation or dissemination of such “fake news” violates election law, campaign finance experts said.
“Getting at what Russia did, but establishing that they broke the law in some way, is not as easy as looks like from some distance,” said Paul Ryan, head of policy and litigation at Common Cause. “We’re kind of in a new world here. This is the first time in the United States where fake news was deployed and used effectively.”
Investigators from congressional intelligence committees and the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller are looking into Russian interference in the election and possible links to the Trump campaign. Had Trump’s data operation shared information with the Russians or asked them for help targeting voters, that coordination would be enough to expose both the campaign and the Russians to election law charges.
The Trump campaign, and subsequently the Trump White House, have for a year denied collusion with the Russians ― a claim that fell apart this week when Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., released an email showing he was eager for negative information about Clinton, even if it was part of the Russian government’s efforts to help his father.
“This is ridiculous. It’s nuts,” said Richard Painter, who was the George W. Bush White House chief ethics lawyer. He pointed to Trump’s public call last year for Russia to find Clinton’s emails deleted from her private server. “He basically encouraged criminal activity, told a foreign government to engage in computer hacking. People voted for him anyway.”
Spending even a single dollar on any type of ad telling voters to support Trump or oppose Clinton would have been illegal for Russia, as foreign entities are prohibited from participating in federal elections.
But the invention of false news and posting or reposting it on websites without paying advertising fees – that is not explicitly outlawed.
More: Russia Spent A Fortune Shilling For Trump – And May Not Have Broken Any Laws
Scary loophole. Thankfully we have an extremely competent special counsel like Robert Mueller on the case to sort this mess out.
WASHINGTON – When Russian leader Vladimir Putin meddled in key Rust Belt states to help Donald Trump become president, he also may have exposed an election law loophole big enough to drive busloads of Macedonian internet trolls through.
Fabricated claims about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s poor health, impending indictment, even involvement in a pizza-parlor based pedophilia ring that were then amplified and recirculated by Kremlin-paid hackers may have helped Trump win critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
But it’s not clear that paying for the creation or dissemination of such “fake news” violates election law, campaign finance experts said.
“Getting at what Russia did, but establishing that they broke the law in some way, is not as easy as looks like from some distance,” said Paul Ryan, head of policy and litigation at Common Cause. “We’re kind of in a new world here. This is the first time in the United States where fake news was deployed and used effectively.”
Investigators from congressional intelligence committees and the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller are looking into Russian interference in the election and possible links to the Trump campaign. Had Trump’s data operation shared information with the Russians or asked them for help targeting voters, that coordination would be enough to expose both the campaign and the Russians to election law charges.
The Trump campaign, and subsequently the Trump White House, have for a year denied collusion with the Russians ― a claim that fell apart this week when Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., released an email showing he was eager for negative information about Clinton, even if it was part of the Russian government’s efforts to help his father.
“This is ridiculous. It’s nuts,” said Richard Painter, who was the George W. Bush White House chief ethics lawyer. He pointed to Trump’s public call last year for Russia to find Clinton’s emails deleted from her private server. “He basically encouraged criminal activity, told a foreign government to engage in computer hacking. People voted for him anyway.”
Spending even a single dollar on any type of ad telling voters to support Trump or oppose Clinton would have been illegal for Russia, as foreign entities are prohibited from participating in federal elections.
But the invention of false news and posting or reposting it on websites without paying advertising fees – that is not explicitly outlawed.
More: Russia Spent A Fortune Shilling For Trump – And May Not Have Broken Any Laws
Scary loophole. Thankfully we have an extremely competent special counsel like Robert Mueller on the case to sort this mess out.
Last edited:
