LONDON – Invoking the Battle of Yorktown and misspelling the word Great Britain, former President Donald Trump’s legal team late Tuesday denounced “blatant foreign interference” in the U.S. election in favor of the vice president, saying Britain He has released a remarkable indictment against the ruling Labor Party. Kamala Harris.
The Trump campaign has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate after a senior labor leader posted a message to current and former staffers urging them to travel to battleground states and campaign for Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 vote. requested.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that his party had done nothing wrong. He added that party members often travel to the US before elections to help fellow Democrats, but this is voluntary rather than party-initiated and therefore does not violate US election law.
Nevertheless, if the FEC agrees with Trump that Labor and Harris flouted foreign interference rules, the FEC could impose hefty fines.
In any case, if Mr Trump wins next month, the application would pave the way for a very awkward start to the partnership with the UK Labor Party – despite the party’s notable centrism in recent years. Regardless, he described the Labor Party as “far left”. It also seems to suggest that there is no plan to soften the painful norm-destroying treatment of Washington’s closest allies during the president’s first term.
“Representatives of the British government have previously attempted door-to-door canvassing in the United States without positive results,” wrote Gary Rawkowski, a lawyer for the Trump campaign. “Last week marked the 243rd anniversary (sic) of the surrender of British troops at the Battle of Yorktown, the military victory that secured the United States’ political independence from Great Britain.Labor and President Harris The campaign seems to have forgotten this message.
Starmer was on a 28-hour flight to the Pacific island of Samoa to attend a federal government summit when Trump’s letter was posted.
He denied that Labor had broken any laws and said Labor had volunteers who had “investigated almost every election,” according to a report on NBC News’ British partner Sky News, who was on the plane. said.
“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, and I think they’re staying with other volunteers over there,” he said, adding that he has “a good relationship with President Trump.” “We are building,” he added. “That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, and that’s what they’re doing in this election, and it’s a no-brainer.”
A Labor Party spokesperson reiterated in an email to NBC News that it is “common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions around the world to volunteer in U.S. elections.” “If labor activists participate, they will do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said.
At the heart of President Trump’s complaint is a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labor Party operations director Sophia Patel in which she claimed that nearly 100 “labor workers” were in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Nevada. Said he was traveling. There are 10 “vacant lots” left in North Carolina and “we will organize your housing,” she posted.
It is this proposal that the Trump campaign claims constitutes foreign interference, and that “we” refers to the Labor Party itself.
Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer during election campaigns, but must not participate in the decision-making process or incur costs exceeding $1,000 per candidate. British volunteers whose flights, accommodation and daily expenses exceed this amount may be in breach of the law.
Trump’s legal letter also highlights that Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications director Matthew Doyle traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. However, it is not uncommon or controversial for foreign political allies to attend these summits.
Starmer’s former advisers have briefed Harris’ campaign staff, and Harris has adopted some of the same slogans, including “turn the page” and “end the chaos”.
Mr Trump is used to intervening himself in the politics of other countries, including Britain. In 2019, he appeared on far-right populist MP Nigel Farage’s radio show, praising Prime Minister Boris Johnson and slamming his opponent Jeremy Corbyn.
Friends in Washington are accustomed to Trump’s brusque demeanor, but the letter is an important part of the transatlantic relationship because it hints at how things might play out if Trump wins. It could be an event.
President Joe Biden has described Britain as his “closest ally” and British politicians are always looking to make the most of their “special relationship”. Starmer has never publicly badmouthed the soon-to-be leader of the free world, but his centre-left policies are much more similar to those of Harris’s Democratic Party.
In 2016, the FEC fined the Australian Labor Party and Bernie Sanders’ campaign after the ALP paid for delegates to campaign for left-wing Democrats.
Help also goes in the opposite direction across the pond.
A year earlier, in 2015, Jim Messina and David Axelrod, former aides to then-President Barack Obama, were hired as advisers to Britain’s Conservative Party and Labor Party, respectively.
Messina’s Conservative Party came out on top.
