Jesse Kelly was on Fox News last night where he was asked what he thought about President Trump’s statement that he is OK with accepting oppo research on an opponent from foreign sources.
Kelly was “horrified” at what he said — HAHAHA! — and he ripped into the President for not following the established precedent set down by Hillary Clinton that the only dirt that can be used in a campaign must be purchased through an intermediary that hires a former foreign spy to collect the information:
My thoughts on Trump saying he’d accept foreign intelligence: pic.twitter.com/YauaSi891D
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) June 13, 2019
Of course, Jesse is 100% correct! You see, the Washington Post even confirmed that this is a perfectly legitimate way to get information on your opponent:
“Paying a foreign national fair market value for opposition research is generally not illegal,” Noble wrote. “It is considered a commercial transaction, which is not a contribution.” Clinton’s campaign had paid Fusion GPS directly; it’s a campaign expenditure, not a campaign contribution. Since it’s not a contribution, the FEC allows it.
Steele was hired by Fusion GPS to see what links might exist between Trump and Russian actors. Those connections, built during his service for the British government, were why he was valuable to Fusion GPS. It’s akin to a campaign looking to investigate an opponent’s history of real estate deals in Mexico: Hiring a Mexican firm that’s familiar with the available records would be perfectly legal, if the firm were paid with legally raised campaign contributions.
Libs, however, are a little bit outraged over the comparison:
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This is obvi the GOP talking point but it is NOT COMPARABLE. To pay someone to get oppo research is not the same as ACCEPTING STOLEN MATERIAL FROM HOSTILE POWERS. JFC people. This is not hard. https://t.co/7y2KgHUbS7
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) June 13, 2019
To paraphrase the above tweet, “JFC people. This is not hard,” via The Federalist’s Sean Davis:
The point of bringing up the Clinton campaign's use of a foreign spy who himself colluded with Russians is not to say it was illegal, but to note the obscene hypocrisy of those in media who pretend the Trump Tower meeting was criminal but Christopher Steele's dossier is kosher.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 13, 2019
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Related:
Ph.D. candidate owes Twitter user $100 for explaining Jesse Kelly’s joke to him https://t.co/Oj7mBVJYCa
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 12, 2019
Ouch! Jesse Kelly pulls no punches pummeling ‘open partisan hackery’ at the FBI ahead of the 2016 election https://t.co/GyfwRd4gqD
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 9, 2019
Truth to POWER! (ha!) Jesse Kelly details EXACTLY what Dems/ media will do when Mueller report released and Lefties CAN’T DEAL https://t.co/1L2iwbOaci
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 15, 2019
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