If you thought that the Trump team would take a more cautious approach to foreign contacts going forward, think again! Not only do they deny that they ever did anything wrong in the first place via courting Russia, they’re carrying on with very similar legally questionable schemes as the 2020 election approaches. Last month, the day before the final report dropped at the Justice Department from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Trump’s current 2020 campaign manager delivered a paid speech overseas to Romanian elites, including some who have been embroiled in serious domestic corruption allegations. At least this time, there’s no obvious glaring connection to Russia, so maybe there’s somewhat of a silver lining to the madness? Even that’s a stretch.
Former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush turned prominent advocate Richard Painter shared with The Washington Post:
‘The appearances are terrible. You would certainly think that a campaign manager would not take money from foreign nationals in this political environment.’
To be clear, there is no obvious indication that Parscale did anything illegal in accepting the money or delivering the speech. However, to suggest that such questions are clear-cut is naive.
The many facets to the issue is what sparked the years-long — and continuing — Russia investigation that keeps Donald Trump up at night, kept going by revelations like a paid speech his former foreign policy adviser Carter Page delivered in Moscow, where he met with Russian elites. The FBI successfully obtained a wiretap permit to monitor Page because they believed him to have been “collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.” Even the appearance of that isn’t exactly something most would want to keep up! Has Parscale read the news lately?
He responded to the scrutiny in part by expressing thankfulness for the opportunity to travel the world in the first place, which really isn’t the main issue here. There’s a lot more at stake than whether or not Parscale gets to make nice vacation memories, although he also asserted that:
‘This speaking engagement was fully vetted and approved through the necessary channels in advance. This is yet another effort by the biased fake news media to systematically target another person in President Trump’s orbit.’
Yeah, repeating the mantra “fake news” approximately 4.37 billion times hasn’t saved the Trump team from scrutiny over their Russia contacts and it’s not about to start maintaining some kind of saving grace now, Brad.
It’s unclear what the “necessary channels” are that Parscale is referring to; he declined to explain when pressed by The Post and if they’re just someone else on the campaign, that’s not exactly a credible vetting process. He could run afoul of the law through any number of means, including one that has repeatedly roped in individuals in Trump’s orbit — unregistered lobbying for foreign agents, which can take plenty of forms besides standing outside a Congressman’s office with a picket sign.
The charge has been slapped on everyone from the president’s first national security adviser Michael Flynn to his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, although in the latter case it covered behavior kickstarted well before joining the Trump team.
Still, the new Parscale debacle suggests that saying the Trump team hasn’t learned their lesson might be a gross understatement.
Featured Image via screenshot
