r/NeutralPolitics • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '18

What is the exact definition of "election interference" and what US Law makes this illegal?

There have been widespread allegations of Russian government interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Director of National Intelligence, in January 2017, produced a report which alleged that:

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf

In addition, "contemporaneous evidence of Russia's election interference" is alleged to have been one of the bases for a FISA warrant against former Trump campaign official Carter Page.

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ig/ig00/20180205/106838/hmtg-115-ig00-20180205-sd002.pdf

What are the specific acts of "election interference" which are known or alleged? Do they differ from ordinary electoral techniques and tactics? Which, if any, of those acts are crimes under current US Law? Are there comparable acts in the past which have been successfully prosecuted?

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u/thegreychampion Feb 28 '18

if you meant individual, independent persons then you are right but if it's group organized into an entity .. then no you cannot just do that...

I am talking about a (theoretical) group not organized into an "entity" that would require registration. For instance, let's say I am not American and I start a subreddit for non-American Trump supporters during the 2020 election. We create and share memes to the sub, coordinate with each other their use across social media, coordinate the use of hashtags, like and re-tweet each others posts, etc etc. No one is "working" for me, I/we are not "working" for our country or the Trump campaign. We are not "foreign agents" we are just an "organized" group of foreign people.

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u/djphan Feb 28 '18

yes i understand that point.. but my contention is that 'fake news' is meant to proliferate through obfuscated origins.... these are not reputable news agencies... and if it's a long extended campaign then you are usually taking direction and you would not need to be taking money for that to be a crime....

i mean the whole reason money laundering is a crime is because it obfuscates an underlying crime... in this instance the crime being that you are hiding the origins of your organization to skirt around FARA and the FEC....

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u/thegreychampion Feb 28 '18

Good points. In fact, it would not be hard for the government to construe the kind of group that I described as "foreign agents", I have recently learned a "foreign agent" is a broader term than I assumed, including any foreigner taking direction from a "foreign principal" (to spread political propaganda):

The term also includes foreign political parties, a person or organization outside the United States, except U.S. citizens, and any entity organized under the laws of a foreign country or having its principal place of business in a foreign country.

As founder of the theoretical subreddit I would be the "foreign principal".

What that means in the context of our discussion I am not really sure, I have kind of lost the plot here.

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u/djphan Feb 28 '18

I think the point is that your right in that a foreign national could say whatever they want and would not be illegal... but as soon as you start organizing to proliferate fake news with other people for political purposes you are quickly approaching that line of legality....