Follow us on social

2021-01-20t131427z_1818668067_mt1sipa000h27csf_rtrmadp_3_sipa-usa-scaled

Trump turns blind eye to illegal foreign influence in last-minute pardon

EIliott Broidy admitted to violating foreign lobby laws on behalf of Chinese interests.

Analysis | Reporting | Washington Politics

Donald Trump’s presidency began under a cloud of suspicion that Trump was influenced by foreign interests, from Russia and the United Arab Emirates to Israel and other nations seeking to leverage the U.S. presidency to further their own interests.

The Mueller investigation, initiated to determine what if any links existed between Trump and Russian officials and whether he committed obstruction of justice, ultimately failed to reach a firm conclusion as to whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russian officials in the 2016 election.

But foreign influence, and Trump’s willingness to turn a blind eye to its danger, reemerged in one of Trump’s final acts as president: The last-minute pardon of Elliott Broidy, a top GOP and Trump fundraiser who served as the 2016 vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising effort by Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee.

During Trump’s term as president, Broidy cashed in, leveraging his ties to the White House to become a highly paid illegal foreign agent for a fugitive believed to be hiding in China, Jho Taek Low, who the Malaysian government accused of playing the central role in the multibillion-dollar theft of assets from the Malaysian government-funded 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

Broidy stood to be paid as much as $75 million if he could use his influence with the Trump White House to end a Justice Department probe into 1MDB, a graft investigation which led to a 2018 federal indictment of Low for his key role in the theft of Malaysia’s state assets.

In October, Broidy admitted to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws in his work on behalf of Low and Chinese government interests which included not only seeking to end the Justice Department’s investigation of 1MDB, but also to persuade the administration to extradite a U.S.-based Chinese billionaire, Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of Beijing.

Broidy forfeited $6.6 million as part of the plea agreement and admitted accepting $9 million from Low — who is reported to enjoy Chinese protection from extradition to Malaysia where he faces extensive criminal charges — to lobby the administration on both 1MDB and Guo’s extradition.

The 1MDB-related crimes, however, weren’t the only instances in which Broidy appeared as a central figure for foreign interests seeking to influence the Trump administration.

Broidy received a $2.7 million payment from George Nader, a convicted pedophile and adviser to the UAE’s ruling family. The funds were reportedly used to help defray expenses for conferences in 2017 sponsored by two Trump-aligned think tanks, the Hudson Institute and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, that were heavily critical of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar, a UAE regional rival.

Both institutions told the New York Times that the contributions violated their policies — Hudson said it has policies prohibiting donations from foreign governments that are not democracies, and FDD said it bars donations from all foreign governments — but neither organization has added any disclosure to their websites that the conferences were funded by the UAE, via Broidy and Nader.

FDD maintained close ties to the Trump administration by promoting the White House’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, paying the salary of a Trump National Security Council staffer to help oversee that campaign, and enjoying financial support from billionaire Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, a major Trump campaign funder whose contributions accounted for about one third of FDD’s annual budgets for the past ten years.

(FDD’s financial ties to Broidy go back much further than what has been previously reported. Broidy donated $5,000 to the group in 2004.)

Throughout his term in office, Trump regularly lashed out against the suggestion that he was controlled or influenced by foreign interests, repeatedly calling the “Russiagate” investigation a “hoax” in his campaign rallies leading up to his defeat on November 3.

Broidy’s pardon marks a bookend to the now ex-president’s battle with persistent rumors and investigations into the role played by foreign governments and individuals in influencing his administration, senior officials and advisers, as well as Trump himself.

It thus seems strangely fitting that, as one of his final acts, Trump pardoned one of the most high-profile unregistered and illegal foreign agents in recent U.S. history, sending the message that well-connected political insiders and donors can peddle their influence with the highest officials in the United States with impunity. 


U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Photographer: Al Drago/Pool/Sipa USANo Use Germany.
Analysis | Reporting | Washington Politics
Nigeria
Top image credit: A U.S. Army soldier (2R) trains Nigerian Army soldiers at a military compound in Jaji, Nigeria, February 14, 2018. To match Special Report NIGERIA-MILITARY/INTERNATIONAL Capt. James Sheehan/U.S. Army/Handout via REUTERS

US arming Nigeria is becoming a crime against humanity

Africa

The very week the United States’ Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a $346 million arms sale to Nigeria, the U.S. State Department also released its 2024 Country report on human rights practices in the West African country.

The report, which has previously affected the country’s eligibility for security assistance, confirmed what civil society groups have been saying for years: that the security forces of Nigeria, Washington’s most significant ally in Sub-Saharan Africa, habitually operate with impunity and without due regard for human rights protection — a key condition for receiving U.S. security cooperation.

keep readingShow less
Safra Catz
Top photo credit: Oracle PR/Hartmann Studios/Creative Commons

TikTok investor: 'Embed the love and respect for Israel' in the US

Washington Politics

The $14 billion deal to transfer TikTok’s ownership away from ByteDance, a company with roots in China, may be the culmination of the Biden and Trump administration’s efforts to force divestment of Chinese-linked ownership in the social media behemoth. Fears over foreign influence at TikTok undergirded the campaign but an executive at one of the new investors has expressed a commitment to influencing U.S. public opinion in favor of Israel.

In a previously unreported email released as part of a hack of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s email account, Oracle CEO Safra Catz explicitly expressed a commitment to influencing U.S. public opinion in favor of Israel. Catz, writing in February 16, 2015, urged Barak to sign on as a consulting producer for a reality TV show about “Women of the IDF” with the goal of “human[izing] the IDF in the eyes of the American public.” (The show, created by Sarit Catz, Safra’s sister, ultimately premiered in 2024 without Ehud Barak as a consulting producer.)

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top photo credit: Vladimir Putin (Office of the Executive of the Federation of Russia) and Donald Trump (Michael C. Dougherty, U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs)

Russia likely laughing off Trump's 'open door' to Tomahawks

Europe

When asked on Sunday if reports that President Donald Trump was considering providing Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles were true, Vice President J.D. Vance left the door open.

The President was selling, not gifting, weapons to Ukraine, Vance clarified, and would make the final decision about what capabilities Ukraine might receive.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.