Common Cause files complaints against Trump Jr.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog group, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Department of Justice claiming that Donald Trump Jr. unlawfully solicited a campaign donation from a foreign national.

The complaint is a reference to the opposition research on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that Trump Jr. was reportedly promised by a Russian lawyer, according to a weekend New York Times report. 

“These laws exist to safeguard U.S. national security and Donald Trump Jr. appears to have violated the law in order to obtain information helpful to his father’s campaign for the presidency,” Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a statement.

{mosads}“These actions are part of a troubling pattern of President Trump, members of his family and key advisors acting as if they are above the law. Trump’s family and inner circle are not above the law, and we urge the Justice Department and the FEC to fully investigate this apparent violation and hold Trump Jr. and the campaign accountable if appropriate.” 

The Times reported that Trump Jr. had arranged a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya weeks after his father secured the Republican presidential nomination. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and campaign chairman Paul Manafort reportedly took part in the meeting as well.

A second report in the newspaper said Trump Jr. met with Veselnitskaya after being promised harmful information about Clinton. Trump Jr. denied to the newspaper that he received any opposition research from the meeting, and added that the topic quickly turned to American adoptions of Russian children.

Common Cause’s vice president for policy and litigation slammed Trump Jr. in a statement, saying he was “treating the election as some sort of reality TV game show.”

“However there are laws on the books prohibiting the solicitation of anything of value from a foreign national to influence a U.S. election and those laws appear to have been violated by Trump Jr.,” Paul S. Ryan said in a statement.

While the Times described Veselnitskaya as a lawyer with ties to the Kremlin, a spokesperson for Russia President Vladimir Putin on Monday said the Kremlin does not know Veselnitskaya.