Jamie Raskin Concedes Dems Can’t Do Anything to ‘Stop’ Controversial Trump Ad Before Midterms: ‘Write Complaints’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) admitted Democrats can’t do much more than “write complaints” over a new controversial video featuring President Donald Trump, even though Raskin sees the ad as “clearly” a violation of the law.

Raskin joined Alicia Menendez on MS NOW’s On the Line on Friday where she asked about a video released by the administration that Raskin and others have said is illegal. The video features Trump denouncing communism while a song titled “Love Me” by JMSN plays (without permission).

Raskin, who is the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, said the video reminded him of content pumped out by authoritarian governments, so it’s only ironic it dropped just as Trump was welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit.

The lawmaker said:

When I first saw it, I said to myself, oh, that’s a terrible political ad, because Trump is denouncing communism while he rolls out the red carpet for President Xi and does everything in his power to advance the communist autocrats on Earth like Kim Jong Un and like Xi, and of course, like Vladimir Putin, the former head of the KGB. But then when you see the tagline that this is paid for by the U.S. Government, then you’ve got to say this is clearly an illegal ad because it is a political ad paid for by the taxpayers.

He argued the video violates the Hatch Act for anyone who worked on it, and “numerous” other ethics laws.

Menendez noted that the Hatch Act, which puts legal limitations on the political activity and discourse allowed for administration officials, is “toothless as long as you have an administration that has no interest in actually enacting the Hatch Act.”

“So where does that leave Congress in the way of consequence for this misuse of taxpayer money?” she asked Raskin.

The Democrat admitted we are too close to the midterm elections for much to be done about the video.

He said:

Right now we’re simply going to have to write complaints of protest to the General Accounting Office, and we are going to have to point out the illegality of what’s going on, but they are throwing these things at us so late in the game, then you’re right,  we’re not going to be able to stop it. We just have to expose it and show that in lieu of a campaign where they actually have ideas and plans to make life better for people, we’re getting a bag of dirty tricks and they’re just pouring the dirty tricks out at us every single day.

So we’re going to identify the crimes that are taking place, the violations of law that are taking place. We’re going to name them, and we’re going to have to deal with it when we get through the election. If there’s anything we can do in the meantime, we will, but meantime, let’s keep our eyes on the prize.

Watch above via MS NOW.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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