To: Department of Justice and Federal Election Commission
Investigate Donald Trump's campaign and Donald Trump Jr. for breaking election law
Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian, Vladimir Putin-connected lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Soliciting any kind of election-related contribution from foreign nationals is against the law—therefore, the Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice must fully investigate the Trump campaign and Trump Jr.’s actions and hold them accountable.
Why is this important?
Americans expect—and deserve—our elected officials to be beholden only to us, not to a foreign government. That's why the Federal Election Campaign Act has a long-standing ban on candidates and their campaigns from soliciting contributions or other support from foreign nationals.
But news broke over the weekend that the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., may have broken that law by meeting with a Putin-connected lawyer after he was allegedly promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Federal law defines a contribution as "anything of value ... for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office"—which makes Donald Trump Jr.'s attempt to obtain damaging information on his father’s election a clear-cut violation of the law.
Common Cause filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice—Common Cause v. Donald Trump Jr. and the Donald J. Trump for President Committee, Inc—demanding a full investigation into what happened.
The new revelations should be part of the investigation that special counsel Robert Mueller is overseeing to determine whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the Russian government—and whether the president has engaged in obstruction of justice after he fired FBI Director James Comey.
The American people deserve the full story of the Trump campaign's possible collusion with the Russian government and its attempts to interfere with the 2016 election. If Trump or his team were involved in an attack on our democracy, they must be held to account.
Add your name today in support of our complaint and to demand that the Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice fully investigate Donald Trump Jr.'s actions.