The Chair of the Federal Election Commission has given a withering response to Trump's claim that he would accept dirt on an opponent from a foreign power.
Ellen L Weintraub, who has served in the position since 2002, tweeted out a statement that said: 'Let me make something 100% clear...
'It is illegal to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a US election.'
'I would not have thought I needed to say this,' she added.
Ellen L Weintraub, who has been chair of the Federal Election Commission since 2002, said she would like to make it '100% clear' that accepting election help from a foreign power is illegal
Weintraub tweeted out her statement, along with a biting remark which read: 'I would not have thought that I needed to say this'
'This is not a novel concept. Electoral intervention from foreign governments has been considered unacceptable since the beginning of our nation.
'Our Founding Fathers sounded the alarm about "foreign Interference, Intrigue, and Influence." They knew that when foreign governments seek to influence American politics, it is always to advance their own interests, not America's.
'Anyone who elicits or accepts foreign assistance risks being on the wrong end of a federal investigation.
'Any political campaign that receives an offer of prohibited donation from a foreign source should report that offer to the FBI.'
Her tweet came after President Trump doubled down on his extraordinary statement, saying he meets with foreign heads of state all the time and can't be expected to call the FBI after each one.
As examples, he gave the 'Queen of England' and 'Prince of Whales' - misspelling Prince Charles official title which is, of course, the Prince of Wales.
He wrote: 'I meet and talk to 'foreign governments' every day.
'I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about 'Everything!'
He continued: 'Should I immediately...call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again. With that being said, my full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media. They purposely leave out the part that matters.'
He was referring to his state visit to the UK earlier this month, which included meetings with Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles.
The British monarch is the head of state, not the head of government, and the royal family are by convention excluded from taking part in politics.
Nancy Pelosi said it showed he did not know right from wrong, while 2020 Democratic candidates including Elizabeth Warren stepped up calls for impeachment.
President Donald Trump has said that if foreign governments offered his campaign damaging information against his 2020 rivals during the upcoming presidential race, he would 'take it in' before, if at all, going to federal authorities, in an exclusive interview with ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopolous
ABC aired multiple quotes by Trump explaining his position. Interviewer George Stephanopoulos, who spent time with Trump over two days this week and traveled aboard Air Force One, brought up offers of foreign dirt on a day Donald Trump Jr. was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump Jr. famously accepted a meeting in Trump Tower in 2016 after being offered dirt on rival Hillary Clinton described as being from the Russian government.
'It's not an interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it,' Trump said. 'If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI -- if I thought there was something wrong.'
In a hypothetical in the interview, Trump brought up a scenario of Norway offering information on a campaign rival.
'I think you might want to listen, there isn't anything wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] 'we have information on your opponent,' I think I'd want to hear it.'
His Thursday tweets also mentioned Emmanuel Macron, the French president, whom he held talks with after commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Poland's president Andrzej Duda, with whom he met on Wednesday in the Oval Office, and Ireland's prime minister, Led Vardkar, whom he met when landing in Ireland where he stayed between visiting Britain and France.
Those three figures - unlike the British royal families - wield political power.
Do you want to know a secret? Trump claims that because he met Queen Elizabeth II, and the heir to the UK throne, Prince Charles - whom he called the Prince of Whales - he can't be expected to call the FBI if a foreign government offered him dirt
Condemnation: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used her weekly press conference on Thursday morning to say: 'What the president said last night shows once again, over and over again, that he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. And that's probably the nicest thing I can say about him.'
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in his report, examined whether it was a violation of campaign finance laws for top Trump campaign aides to have accepted information, since it could constitute something of value.
But prosecutors concluded the officials who took the meeting may not have been fully cognizant of campaign finance laws at the time.
Democrats slammed Trump for his statement to ABC.
The simple answer would seem to be to call the FBI - or face prosecution. But in reality, there are a lot of barriers in the way of a prosecution.
Under 11 CFR § 110.20 (b), campaign finance law prohibits a foreign national from contributing or donating 'money or other thing of value,' or even expressly or impliedly promising to do so, 'in connection with any Federal, State, or local election.'
That makes it punishable for the foreign actor.
And the same laws also makes it illegal to accept such a contribution in kind or donation. 'Just listening' to dirt certainly sounds like a donation in kind - even if Trump did nothing with it, it was given with the intention of harming his opponent, so qualifies as a 'contribution.'
But the law also says that the contribution has to be a 'substantial assistance.'
Whether 'just listening' constitutes 'substantial assistance' - the next test for prosecutors - is harder to tell.
If Trump does nothing with the information, it would not have assisted him.
There is little case law to help prosecutors or a potential Trump defense.
The Mueller report dodged the issue of defining whether the Trump campaign broke the law at all by suggesting that those involved in the notorious Trump Tower meeting were ignorant of campaign finance law - something which does not apply as a defense to most laws, but does to campaign finance.
And nobody has been prosecuted for providing or taking foreign help 'in kind' as opposed to money, providing another potential barrier to a successful prosecution.
A bill proposed to the Senate by among others 2020 Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar aims to make clear that any research offered by a foreign government would be a contribution and therefore accepting it would be a cause for prosecution.
It is however legal for a campaign to hire foreign assistance to research the backgrounds of opponents and their actions abroad.
That was what Hillary Clinton's
