Trump Fundraiser Proposed Plan To Evade Russian Sanctions

Bloomberg News has just reported that the deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, Elliott Broidy, last year tried to get U.S. sanctions lifted from Russian companies by sending a proposal to a Moscow-based lawyer.

A proposal was sent by Broidy to Andrei Baev, an energy lawyer at Chadbourne & Parke LLP.  Both men have admitted that the proposal was made just before Trump was inaugurated as president in January of 2017.

Reportedly, in the proposal, Broidy set forth his ideas for a potential campaign to get top U.S. officials to eliminate or reduce the sanctions which had been imposed on Russian companies by the Obama Administration.

“From the beginning I made it clear that while I would consider trying to help the firm build a team and to put them in touch with some experts, I am not a lobbyist and didn’t plan on becoming one,” Broidy said in a written statement.

“I also made clear from the beginning that any arrangement we reached would need to be in full compliance with U.S. law. We never made any agreement, and the project never went anywhere. I never contacted any U.S. officials on behalf of Chadbourne or its clients and never had any contact with Chadbourne’s clients.”

According to Broidy, he sent the proposal to the Moscow lawyer after an inquiry was made requesting help in avoiding the U.S. sanctions.  Although Broidy thinks he did nothing wrong, this does prove that Russians wanting to avoid U.S. sanctions felt that their efforts to enlist the help of Trump and his political allies would be successful.

For decades, the Los Angeles-based Broidy has been a major fundraiser for the Republican Party. He has recently been tied to George Nader who is reportedly now cooperating with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.  Nader is a Lebanese-American businessman and is known to be an influential adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Nader had developed a relationship with Broidy in order to use him to influence policies of the Trump Administration.

Broidy, who has extensive business interests throughout the Middle East, is also known to be a significant supporter of Israel. During Trump’s presidential campaign, he held the prominent position of vice chairman of the president’s fundraising committee.

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Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.

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