[Rockingham]

None of the scenarios are clearly illegal but any of them can be problematic, depending on the details of who the foreign agent is, whether he is acting privately or for a foreign government, the larger context of the campaign's dealings with them, the nature of the information, and the illegality in obtaining it.

The larger point is that the candidate or a high level campaign official should never have meetings of that nature, and the candidate should be mostly kept in the dark if the campaign has any such dealings, with any information passed on through counsel. This helps limit the political and reputational risk to the candidate and provides a legal basis for confidentiality and for an advice of counsel defense for the candidate.

[henkster]

I think you have the best practical advice. If approached by anyone not a citizen of the United States, who says they have dirt, it’s best to go through intermediaries. For example, had I been Don Jr. in this situation, here’s how I would have played it:

You get the e-mail from the British intermediary. You thank them politely for the offer. You tell them that you will consider the offer, and that they can expect to hear from someone regarding the offer. You have a fairly low level staff person contact a staff person of a “friendly” news source, say Sean Hannity. Tell them about the source, and have Hannity’s people contact them.

If they want to play ball that way, then let it happen. If they don’t want to, then the whole deal was either a set up or a shakedown. You and your candidate do not get any stink on you under those circumstances.