United Kingdom (U.K.) Prime Minister Keir Starmer — a self-admitted socialist — is insisting he’s very good friends with former President Donald Trump, even as Trump’s campaign has recently filed a complaint against Starmer’s party for sending staffers to campaign for Kamala Harris.
There were reports last week that a high-level Labour Party staffer was organizing a trip to fly approximately 100 party staffers into the U.S. to campaign on behalf of Harris’ campaign, raising concerns about potential foreign election interference. Trump’s campaign filed a legal complaint against the Labour Party following the reports, but Starmer brushed aside concerns that the move was illegal and assured reporters on Wednesday that he was still “good friends” with Trump, according to multiple reports.
Starmer is now the prime minister of the U.K. after the Labour Party won the country’s elections in July, ousting the Conservative Party and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from power. Starmer will have to work with either Trump or Harris on maintaining U.S.-U.K. relations depending on which candidate wins in the November presidential elections.
“I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us, we established a good relationship, which we did,” Starmer told reporters. “We had a good, constructive discussion and, of course, as prime minister of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president.”
Starmer also told reporters that Labour had sent staffers to volunteer in previous U.S. elections, according to reports.
“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying I think with other volunteers over there. That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward,” Starmer said.
The Labour Party said it isn’t funding the trip and that staffers choosing to go campaign on behalf of Harris have to go on their own dime, according to Politico EU.
The rules and regulations surrounding how foreign nationals can participate in the U.S. election process are strict. Besides the obvious law prohibiting foreign nationals from voting in a U.S. election, they also cannot donate to a political campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Foreign nationals can volunteer for a campaign, but they cannot be a part of the decision-making process as to how the campaign should operate.
The Labour Party insists its staffer trip to the U.S. is in compliance with these laws, according to Politico EU. But the Trump campaign feels there are aspects to the trip that may be crossing the line.
“Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than [the] LinkedIn post,” the Trump campaign wrote in a legal complaint to the FEC.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Guardian)
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