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
Assimi Goita Mali
Top photo credit: Mali's junta leader Assimi Goita attends the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou

Mali in crisis: When the junta has no one left to blame but itself

Africa

Since early September, members of the Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terrorist organization have been attacking and kidnapping truck drivers transporting fuel to the Malian capital of Bamako. The effects of this blockade appear to be reaching a high point, with images this week showing residents jammed into long lines in the city’s supply-squeezed gas stations.

This comes after several days during which the blockade’s cuts to fuel forced many gas stations across the city to close. Some of the stations that have since reopened are only able to sell diesel to the city’s residents.

keep readingShow less
Rep. Adam Smith
Top image credit: US Representative Adam Smith (L) and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng attend a meeting at the Shanghai's municipal government in Shanghai on September 25, 2025. JADE GAO/Pool via REUTERS

Lawmakers have an antidote for Washington's China panic

Asia-Pacific

In the midst of the U.S. government shutdown and controversy over military deployments in American cities, partisanship in Congress sometimes seems out of control. But legislators of both parties can still set aside their animosities when it comes to hyping conflict with China.

On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch introduced his Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act. On Tuesday, the House Select Committee on China issued a bipartisan report pressing to tighten the U.S. embargo against China on advanced semiconductors. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Aging highlighted “the terrifying reality” that, on generic pharmaceuticals, “our nation is completely beholden to Communist China.”

keep readingShow less
Nuclear missile
Top image credit: Zack Frank

Put this nuclear missile on the back of a truck — but we still don't need it

Military Industrial Complex

Last week, analysts from three think tanks penned a joint op-ed for Breaking Defense to make the case for mobilizing the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, a pivot from one exceedingly costly approach to nuclear modernization to another.

After Sentinel faced a 37 percent cost overrun in early 2024, the Pentagon was forced to inform Congress of the cost spike, assess the root causes, and either cancel the program or certify it to move forward under a restructured approach. The Pentagon chose to certify it, but not before noting that the restructured program would actually come in 81 percent over budget.

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.