Trump now says he would report foreign election aid
President had faced criticism for scoffing at notion he should tell FBI of interference
WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to backtrack somewhat on accepting campaign help from Russia or other foreign governments without necessarily telling the FBI.
He said he would certainly inform law enforcement authorities if he were approached.
Earlier in the week, he said “I’d take it” (the help) and scoffed at the notion he should call authorities.
But he said Friday that while he would still look at incriminating information provided by a hostile foreign power about an election opponent, he would “absolutely” report such an encounter.
“Of course, you give it to the FBI or report it to the attorney general or somebody like that,” Trump said on Fox
& Friends in a telephone interview on Friday morning.
“But of course you do that. You couldn’t have that happen with our country.”
He shot back angrily, however, at Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Thursday his willingness to take foreign help to win an election demonstrated “that he does not know right from wrong.”
“He’s been involved in a criminal cover-up,” Pelosi said.
Trump called that a “fascist statement.”
“When Nancy Pelosi makes a statement like that, she ought to be ashamed of herself,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”
The president’s comments on taking campaign help from Russia came after more than a day of withering criticism from Democrats — and even distancing from Republicans — who said any candidate should automatically report a foreign effort to influence U.S. elections.
The president also pushed back against criticism on another front, rejecting a recommendation by an independent agency that he fire his counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, for violating federal law governing partisan politics in government.
“No, I’m not going to fire” her, Trump said. “I think she’s a terrific person. She’s a tremendous spokeswoman.”
The recommendation to fire Conway came from the Office of Special Counsel, an agency that enforces the Hatch Act governing politics in the federal workplace and is unrelated to the former special counsel, Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump and Russia.
The agency called Conway a “repeat offender” for using her perch at the White House to engage in campaign politics when she went on television or social media criticizing the Democrats running for their party’s nomination to challenge Trump in next year’s election.
Henry J. Kerner, the head of the agency, who was appointed by Trump, said her conduct erodes the rule of law.
But the president saw it differently, saying Conway was entitled to express her opinion, even using her taxpayerpaid White House position. “It looks to me like they’re trying to take away her right of free speech,” he said.
Kerner’s spokesperson, Zachary Kurz, said his office would accept Trump’s decision.