Is ‘Collusion’ Illegal? Fox News Host Says No

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Publish Date:
July 12, 2017
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Politifact.com - PunditFact
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Summary

Following Sean Hannity’s exclusive interview with Donald Trump Jr., Fox News host Eric Bolling repeated an argument that the network’s personalities have used before — that even if someone from the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government, collusion itself is not a crime.

Bolling and his Fox News Specialists co-hosts Eboni Williams and Kat Timpf appeared on the network after Hannity’s hourlong show on July 11, 2017. Trump Jr. had defended himself for meeting with a Russian lawyer in hopes of receiving damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily cited the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. A 2011 U.S. District Court ruling based on that law found that foreign nationals could not make expenditures “to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a political candidate.”

“A foreign national spending money to influence a federal election can be a crime,” Persily said. “And if a U.S. citizen coordinates, conspires or assists in that spending, then it could be a crime.”

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