GOP fundraiser says he got millions to illegally lobby Trump administration [View all]
Source: Washington Post
Elliott Broidy, a former top Republican fundraiser who admitted to illegally lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of foreign nationals, described his actions publicly Tuesday for the first time, testifying in court about his failed attempts to quash a federal investigation of a Malaysian financier and to spur U.S. officials to extradite a wealthy Chinese dissident living in New York, whom Beijing had branded a criminal.
Although he could have pocketed up to $75 million if his efforts had succeeded, he told a federal jury, he wound up with far less: an $8 million retainer and a $1 million “appearance fee” for traveling to Thailand for a secret meeting.
Broidy, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump, is cooperating with the Justice Department in criminal cases involving Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho and his associates in the United States. Authorities say Low and others profited from the theft of $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.
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During the 2016 presidential campaign, Broidy, then a Los Angeles-based investor, helped corral big donors to support the Trump campaign. After Trump took office in 2017, Broidy was named deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
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Broidy expressed no clear remorse on the witness stand as he described the illegal lobbying in mostly clinical terms. Under questioning by a prosecutor, he repeatedly used phrases such as “business opportunity” and “the deal terms.” As for helping Low, he referred to leveraging “my relationships in the administration with the president and others who could be relevant.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/04/broidy-testify-trump-malaysia-fugees/
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