The Trump campaign does not commit to staying away from pirated content



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By Monica Alba

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's re-election campaign refuses to publicly declare that he will not use pirated documents to his advantage – in stark contrast to the Democratic National Committee and a long list of party candidates for 2020 who have committed to not doing it.

The investigation led by the special advocate Robert Mueller on electoral interference in Russia revealed that the Russian government had not only participated in a "radical and systematic" way in the 2016 race, but had also makes Trump's victory a priority.

Mueller's report, released last week, said that although investigators found no criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Russians, the Trump team was "waiting to voters stolen information and published through Russian efforts. "

In February, Democratic presidential candidates all declared that they would not take advantage of information obtained illegally. Most of these campaigns (including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Secretary of HUD Julián Castro) confirmed to NBC News that their positions were still in place unchanged.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and former Texas representative Beto O'Rourke – who had not officially announced in February – are also committed to not using stolen or pirated information.

In February, the Trump campaign chose not to indicate its position on the use of such information and, on Wednesday, neither the campaign nor the Republican National Committee responded to repeated requests for comment.

This week, DNC President Tom Perez has asked his RNC counterpart, Ronna McDaniel, to commit to the same cybersecurity platform by 2020.

"As leaders of the two largest political parties in our country, we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of our democratic process," he wrote. "That's why I urge you to join me in condemning the militarization of stolen private data in our electoral process."

The White House did not immediately answer questions about the future use of this type of material, but questioned about the denunciation of future Russian interference, spokesman Hogan Gidley emphasized the president's earlier statements. Trump has not promised to avoid the use of pirated or stolen data in the next cycle.

Notably, Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, recently claimed that there was "nothing wrong with taking information from the Russians".

Vice President Mike Pence did not respond directly to a question from NBC News on Wednesday about whether he regretted the use of hackers spoofed by the campaign in 2016 and said he was not going to say anything. he would pledge not to do it again, repeating the position of the administration that the Mueller report did not reveal any collusion between the campaign and Russia.

Earlier this week, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner largely dismissed Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election as "buying advertisements on Facebook to try to sow dissent ".

"Frankly, it's a big distraction for the country," said the president's son-in-law. "It's a terrible thing, but I think that the surveys and all the speculation that has occurred over the past two years have had a much harder impact on democracy than some Facebook ads."

Trump and his 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, quickly offered their praise for and agreement with Kushner's position on Twitter.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is due to join the race on Thursday, is already committed to not using pirated material. He is co-chair of the Transatlantic Integrity Commission, created to combat electoral interference in and around countries.

In February, at the Security Conference in Munich, Biden implored other candidates to vow not to "help and encourage" foreign governments seeking to interfere.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York launched her own "cybersecurity commitment" and asked fellow White House hopefuls to partner.

"I pledge not to accept stolen or pirated content from foreign actors, and urge all other presidential candidates to do the same," she wrote online. . "Join me in calling the rest of the world in 2020 to defend our elections from foreign interference."

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