Why did Trump accuse the British Labor Party of election interference? | News about the 2024 US election

Republican US candidate Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit demanding an immediate investigation into “flagrant foreign interference” by British officials in the upcoming November 5 presidential election.

In a letter to the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), Trump campaign lawyer Gary Lawkowski accused the UK's ruling Labor Party of sending senior advisers and officials to battleground US states to support his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

“To protect our democracy from illegal foreign influence, it is imperative that the Federal Election Commission … promptly investigate this matter,” the complaint states.

While British Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied the allegations, the incident could strain relations between the United States and its closest ally if Trump wins the close election, analysts said.

What are the allegations?

The complaint cited a now-deleted LinkedIn post from Labor Party operations director Sofia Patel, which asked if anyone would be willing to travel to the U.S. to “join our friends across the pond at the United States.” to help elect their first female president.”

“[Let’s] Show these Yanks how to win elections!,” she wrote.

Patel also said nearly 100 current and former party officials were traveling to swing states such as North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia, adding that there were still 10 spots available and promising that “we will sort out your accommodations.”

The letter to the FEC also cited a Washington Post report that said: “[s]Strategists affiliated with the British Labor Party have offered advice to Kamala Harris on how to win back disaffected voters and run a successful center-left election campaign.”

The Telegraph reported that “Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, communications director, attended the meeting in Chicago and met with Ms. Harris' campaign team,” the complaint continues.

How did the Labor Party react?

The UK prime minister said party officials were volunteering for Harris “in their spare time” and not in their capacity to work for Labor.

“Labour volunteers have looked through pretty much every election. They do it in their spare time, they do it as volunteers, they stay with other volunteers over there, I think,” Starmer said.

“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election, and it’s really simple.”

Is Labor doing something illegal?

Whether or not the Labor Party funds these activities is crucial in determining whether there is illegality.

Under federal law, foreign nationals are prohibited from making “directly or indirectly” a donation of money or any other thing of value or from making an express or implied promise to make a donation or donation in connection with a federal law. state or local elections” or an independent expenditure supporting a U.S. presidential candidate.

Candidates are also required to “not solicit, accept, or receive contributions or donations.”

An exemption allows foreign nationals to volunteer in U.S. elections as long as they receive no compensation, make no expenses, and do not direct or control the activities of U.S. election campaigns.

However, the complaint argued that “there is sufficient evidence to believe that the British Labor Party made illegal donations from foreign nationals and that the Harris Campaign accepted them.”

It cited Patel's LinkedIn posts saying that there were “10 spots left” to travel to US swing states and that “we are sorting your accommodations”, arguing that this showed that the Labor Party organized and financed this initiative and effectively compensated the volunteers by covering their accommodation in the USA.

Christopher Phelps, a lecturer in the department of American and Canadian studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, told Al Jazeera that Patel had a title that “made it appear as if this was an official move by the party” and that party resources were being used to coordinate Effort.

“I think it had harmless intentions and wasn't very serious on an ethical level, but to me it looks like it was a violation of U.S. law,” he said. “Most countries do not want foreign political parties to participate in their political processes.”

However, Phelps noted that Labor's intervention was small in scale compared to Russian interference, which is widely believed to be aiding Trump's campaign. “The majority of American election interference this year, as in recent cycles, is Russia running troll farms and bots,” he said.

The Labor push could end up backfiring and inadvertently benefiting the Republican camp. “It's very convenient now for Trump to be able to say, 'Look at this foreign interference on behalf of the Harris campaign, to allay the suspicions raised by the Russian attempt to aid his campaign,'” Phelps said .

Is there a precedent for this?

The FEC is expected to conduct a review of the case. If it determines a violation has occurred, it could issue a written warning or a fine, according to information on its website.

“This will likely result in them being fined, just as the Australian Labor Party, which supports Bernie Sanders, did a few years ago,” Phelps said.

The complaint filed by Trump's campaign lawyer specifically referenced a 2016 program in which the Australian Labor Party (ALP) paid for its delegates' flights and gave them daily stipends to support Bernie Sanders' campaign.

The Federal Election Commission fined the ALP and the Sanders campaign $14,500 each.

“The British Labor Party appears to be following the same model as the ALP,” the letter to the FEC said.

In 2004, Tony Blair's Labor government was also accused by British opposition politicians of trying to help US President George W. Bush's re-election campaign by moving British troops closer to Baghdad at a time when Bush was under pressure because of his war in Iraq.

How might this affect UK-US relations if Trump wins?

Starmer has insisted he has a “good relationship” with Trump and that those relationships would not be jeopardized by the complaint.

“I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him, and my goal was to make sure that we built a good relationship between the two of us, which we did, and we are grateful to him for that.” “I “take the time,” Starmer was quoted as saying by British media in response to questions about the letter.

“We had a good, constructive discussion and of course, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I will work with whoever the American people choose to return as their President in their elections, which are now very close.”

British media reported that Starmer met Trump in September when he visited Trump Tower in New York. Ahead of the meeting, the Republican presidential candidate described Starmer as a “very nice” man who “ran a great race” in the British election in July.

The US and UK have remained enduring partners over decades, collaborating across a range of sectors. “The US understands Britain as its most important ally, well beyond the president – there are intelligence operations, military operations, diplomatic operations,” Phelps said. “It won’t disrupt all of these institutional connections.”

On a personal level, however, Trump is unlikely to approve of Starmer's support for his opponent.

“Trump values ​​subservience to him above all else,” Phelps said. “If Starmer is willing to have a moment of eating his own hat and being submissive, perhaps he can ride the ship [back].”