Actor Tom Arnold has openly solicited people to hack into databases and steal dirt on President-elect Donald Trump, an act that does not violate any federal laws, according to a new report.
Legal experts told LawNewz Arnold's public plea on social media is OK in the eyes of the law.
"Tom has not crossed the line here. There is no federal statute that prohibits a general solicitation of conduct that may be arguably criminal," former federal prosecutor Bill Thomas told the website. "There are some statutes that specifically prohibit the solicitation of specific crimes. My research doesn't indicate that hacking is one of them.
"Even if there were a statute that could be construed to prohibit this type of conduct, given the context of Mr. Arnold's comments, any prosecutor seeking to prosecute a crime here would be dangerously close to running afoul of the First Amendment."
Arnold has posted a series of tweets in recent days that both question Trump's ability to serve as president and ask his followers to steal information about him.
Arnold also hinted that Trump may be considering legal action against him for asking people to hack on his behalf.
Arnold recently said he has unreleased tapes of Trump talking off camera on the set of "The Apprentice," in which Trump can allegedly be heard saying derogatory things. Arnold cannot release them himself because of a confidentiality agreement.
Thomas told LawNewz Arnold's request of computer hacks is so vague that he likely would not face prosecution if anything were to actually be stolen.
"If the facts were more specific, that is, if Mr. Arnold sought out a specific individual to take specific acts to hack, this would be problematic," Thomas said.
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