Politics

Judge Napolitano Breaks Down Crowdfunding Bribe Debate Surrounding Susan Collins — ‘Weird’ But ‘Not Illegal’

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Nick Givas Media And Politics Reporter
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Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said a crowdfunding effort to intimidate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine into voting no on Judge Brett Kavanaugh is strange, but not illegal.

The crowdfunding link, which was started by an activist liberal group called “Maine’s People Alliance,” has raised over $1.2 million for Collins’s future Senate opponent and is continuing to garner support. It’s entitled “Either Sen. Collins VOTES NO on Kavanaugh OR we fund her future opponent.” (RELATED: Law Professor Jonathan Turley Criticizes GoFundMe For Allowing People To Purchase Legal Testimony)

“No,” Napolitano said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday, when asked if it was a bribe. “Well first of all, if you know Susan Collins as many of us do, she’s a very thoughtful, independent woman who will vote the way her heart and mind tell her to and absolutely will not be influenced by this.”

“She won’t respond to it. And she won’t overreact to it and she won’t act out of fear.”

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Napolitano cited the Supreme Court’s decision of Citizens United and said people are allowed to spend their money however they see fit, when they want to express their freedom of speech.

“The left has been yelling about the influence of money in politics for years. And the Supreme Court has ruled in a case that the other side hates called Citizens United, that money is speech,” he continued. “You use your money to pay for your speech. You buy a full-page ad. You construct a website. Here is using money to influence speech in an awful way, but it is not illegal.”

“Of course. It doesn’t happen as in-your-faces as this. As crude and public as this is. ‘If you don’t vote the way I want, I’ve got a million bucks for your as-yet unnamed and undetermined opponent,'” Napolitano concluded. “So I think this is actually going to backfire politically. Legally it’s weird. But it is not a crime.”

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