Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, supposedly into collusion between President Trump’s election campaign and Russia, is casting light into dark corners of the Washington swamp where powerful political figures become highly paid agents of foreign governments.
The prominent Americans Mueller has indicted are all foreign agents. That is, they work as lobbyists or consultants for foreign governments, who paid them handsomely. This includes retired Gen. Michael Flynn, GOP operative Paul Manafort, and his consulting partner Rick Gates. None of these men were indicted or convicted for activities on the Trump campaign. The charge sheet against Manafort was generally for crimes allegedly committed in his lucrative work in the transnational, revolving-door lobbying industry centered on the federal capital.
George Papadopoulos, another Trump-world conviction by Mueller, was reportedly suspected of being an unregistered agent for Israel.
We learned last week that Mueller referred a handful of American lobbyists and consultants to federal prosecutors in New York for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. These reportedly include President Barack Obama’s former White House counsel, Greg Craig, who became an agent for Ukrainian politicians who supported Russia’s tyrant, President Vladimir Putin. Tony Podesta, a former Democratic congressional staffer and hugely successful lobbyist and fundraiser is also said to be among those sent by Mueller to New York prosecutors. He seems to have failed to register his work ties to Putin.
[More: Trump inches closer to Mueller interview. Here’s what he could be asked]
Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman and a senior adviser to GOP candidates, was another alpha lobbyist reportedly referred to federal prosecutors for investigation.
It’s cheering that federal prosecutors are getting serious about FARA. Lobbyist registration, foreign and domestic, has long been required by law, but not enforced. Lobbyists who abide by the law gripe privately about this, and about nonenforcement of the Lobbyist Disclosure Act and the fact that many avoided Obama’s scorn by simply deregistering while continuing to lobby. The Obama administration put its stamp of approval on this deception by accepting donations from such lobbyists.
Podesta and Craig haven’t been accused of breaking the law, Flynn and Papadopoulos were convicted on non-FARA crimes, and Manafort hasn’t been convicted of anything. But verdicts and indictments aren’t needed to say these men all played in a corrupt game.
Flynn monetized his military service by putting his name and his rank to work for foreign governments including Turkey and Ukraine. American policymakers, journalists, and the public all trusted him because the U.S. Army made him a ranger and then a lieutenant general. He sold that hard-earned authority to people whose purposes were, in our opinion, incompatible with this country’s interests.
Craig served in the inner circles of the Obama White House. Podesta was the Democrats’ most important campaign finance bundler. Manafort pretended to work for Trump when in truth he was serving the foreign governments who were the clients. Trump was the product he was selling.
Weber was a public servant who cashed out to K Street and also served as a foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney while he was working for Ukrainian interests
Some or all of the above was legal. That’s an important part of the problem. It’s pretty common in Washington. There’s little or no stigma to becoming a lobbyist for a foreign government. There should be.
No American politician ought to take the trust Americans place in him and parlay it into an enriching gig advancing the interests of another country. Every revolving-door lawmaker-turned-lobbyist should get the message that if he comes knocking on behalf of some foreign potentate, he’ll get the curb.
Regardless of what federal prosecutors do, Congress should begin investigating foreign agents and pass stricter laws to provide at least better transparency on this shady business. Current FARA reporting is opaque. The Republican Congress ought to take up reforms before the midterm elections. It would be a fitting way to wrap up the first two years of a president who promised to drain the swamp.
It would also give a real purpose to Mueller’s investigation if Republicans responded by draining a swamp that is far deeper than Trump perhaps suspected and spans oceans.
