don't understand. So you have no problem with those donations to foundations run by your political candidates?The donations to the foundation are disclosed, and the foundation is run for a well-defined charitable purpose, subject to strict governance, and is it not a personal slush fund (especially not this one, which is probably the most scrutinized in the US, for obvious reasons). The fact that it accepted donations from tyrannies is indeed unsavory, but it was well documented and voters would have been able to make decisions based on this. Voters could have made the same sorts of judgements on the international dealings of the candidate’s opponent (tax returns aside). The idea that these sorts of personal/business dealings (by both candidates) are equivalent to a hostile foreign power undertaking covert activities to influence the outcome of the election and sow internal discord is incongruous, to put it mildly.
Who would be held guilty in this case? Would the USA government try to use extradition treaties to get a foreign national onto USA soil if they bought adverts for a candidate
I’m sure that, once the current political climate calms, there will be severe consequences, with bipartisan agreement, to make it clear to foreign entities that this sort of activity is unwelcome. Also, I doubt FB’s implicit mea culpa in TFA would have been produced if they weren’t terrified.