The chair of the Federal Elections Commission, the FEC, she's got this tweet pinned to the top of her Twitter timeline.

It's the kind of statement you don't often read on government letterhead.

It's stripped of formality and weasel words.

It starts, let me make something 100% clear

to the American public.

Then it continues,

it is illegal for any person

to solicit, accept,

or receive anything of value

from a foreign national

in connection with the U.S. election.

... in connection with the U.S. election. Ellen Weintraub, the FEC commissioner, who wrote this statement.

She's taken to tweeting it and retweeting it, attaching one-line editorials whenever she does.

One reads, I would not have thought I needed to say this. Another says,

Is this thing on? When you get Ellen Weintraub on the phone, though, it's a little bit of a different

story. I just want to be really clear. I am not going to say whether any individual has violated the law.

I'm perfectly happy to explain the law.

I think it's important to explain the law.

And I keep hoping somebody will hear me when I explain the law.

And they will decide to comply with the law.

But I'm not going to say if anybody has violated the law.

It's funny because you are simultaneously an incredibly careful person, but really out there.

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