LONDON – Awakening Battle of Yorktown and filed a landmark legal complaint against former President Donald Trump by misspelling the word Britain The ruling Labor Party of Great Britain In favor on Tuesday, accusing him of blatant foreign interference in the US election Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s team He asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate after a senior labor official sent out a call for current and former employees to go to the war zone and Campaign for Harris ahead November 5 vote.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer He said his party did nothing wrong on Tuesday. Party members often travel to the US before elections to help out their Democratic bedfellowshe said, but added that it was voluntary, not party-led, and therefore not against American election laws.
Even so, if the FEC agrees with Trump — that Labor and Harris are guilty of violating foreign interference rules — the agency could issue hefty fines.
Anyway, If Trump wins next month the petition paves the way for a deeply awkward start to a partnership with Britain’s Labor Party – which he describes as the “far left” despite the party’s particularly centrist shift in recent years. This shows that he has no plans to soften the bruising and deviant treatment with which he met Washington’s closest allies in the first period.
“When representatives of the British government tried to go door-to-door in America in the past, it did not end well for them,” wrote Gary Lawkowski, a lawyer for Trump’s campaign. “This past week marked the 243rd anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that secured the United States’ political independence from Great Britain. [sic]. “It seems that the Labor Party and the Harris presidential campaign have forgotten this message.”
When Trump’s letter landed, Starmer was on a 28-hour flight to the Pacific island of Samoa, where he was to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
He denied Labor had broken any laws, saying there were volunteers who “go through every election”. This was reported by Sky News, the British partner of NBC News on the plane.
“They do it in their spare time, they do it as volunteers, I think they hang out with the other volunteers there,” he said, adding that he “has a good relationship” with Trump. “That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’ve done in this election, and it’s really that simple.”
In an email to NBC News, a Labor spokesperson reiterated that “it is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions around the world to volunteer for US elections.” The press secretary said that “Labor” activists do it at their own expense in accordance with the laws and regulations where they participate.
At the heart of Trump’s complaint is a now-deleted LinkedIn post in which Labor Party chief of operations Sofia Patel said about 100 “Labor Party workers” were traveling to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Nevada. North Carolina has 10 “spots” left and “we’re going to sort out your apartment,” he said.
It is precisely the proposal that Trump’s team says is foreign interference – claiming that the “we” is the Labor Party itself.
Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer during election campaigns, but must not participate in any decision-making process or must cost more than $1,000 per candidate. Any British volunteer whose flights, accommodation and daily expenses exceed this amount may be breaking the law.
Trump’s legal letter notes that Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and communications director Matthew Doyle traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. However, it is not unusual or controversial for foreign political allies to attend these summits.
Former Starmer advisers They told campaign workers for Harrishe adopted some of the same slogans – “turn the page” and “end the chaos”
Trump himself is no stranger to meddling in the politics of other countries, including Britain. in 2019 he called populist hard-right MP Nigel Farage’s radio show Praising Prime Minister Boris Johnson and criticizing his rival Jeremy Corbyn. – As a Brit who won a major political landslide in July.
Washington’s friends are well used to Trump’s brutal style, but the letter could be an important development in transatlantic relations because it hints at how things will play out if Trump wins.
President Joe Biden describes the UK as his “closest ally” and British politicians are always keen to make the most of their “special relationship”. Starmer would never publicly denounce the soon-to-be Leader of the Free World, but his center-left politics are more akin to those of Harris’ Democrats.
In 2016, the FEC fined the Australian Labor Party and Bernie Sanders’ campaign after the ALP paid its representatives to campaign for the left-wing Democrats.
Help is also flowing across the pond.
A year earlier, in 2015, former aides to then-President Barack Obama, Jim Messina and David Axelrod, were hired as advisers by Britain’s Conservative and Labor parties, respectively.
Messina’s Conservative Party came first.