Republican Hero Facing Criminal Charges Over Foreign Lobbying Scheme

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Caleb Newton
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Elliott Broidy, who once served as a deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), is set to face federal criminal charges over an illegal covert scheme to lobby the Trump administration on behalf of foreign interests, according to a new report in The Washington Post. Broidy’s lobbying was on behalf of two causes: on the one hand, he apparently pushed for the extradition of Chinese national Guo Wengui back to his home country, where he is wanted on financial crimes charges that he says are bogus. Additionally, Broidy reportedly sought to have the U.S. government drop an investigation into a scandal involving a Malaysian development fund known as 1MDB, which huge sums of money were swiped from.

As the Post explains:

‘Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge longtime GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy in connection with efforts to influence the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests, according to people familiar with the matter, a result of a sprawling, years-long investigation that involved a figure who helped raise millions for Donald Trump’s election and the Republican Party… He has been in discussions with the Justice Department and could ultimately reach a plea deal, they said.’

The case against Broidy seems to be bolstered by a recent guilty plea from his business associate Nickie Mali Lum Davis, who admitted to her role in what federal prosecutors characterized as a “back-channel lobbying campaign” in her charging documents. Broidy also participated in that campaign, although he’s not named in the documents — he’s apparently one of the people behind the identifiers “Person A” and “Person B,” who are referenced only by those phrases in the charging documents. This past Monday, federal prosecutors “told a judge that charges may be filed against additional defendants in the case,” the Post notes. That revelation presumably referenced Broidy.

Broidy has denied the allegations against him. In 2018, he claimed that the “whole narrative is a fabrication driven by hackers who want to undermine” him. However, Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho — who was involved in the embezzlement of funds from that 1MDB investment fund — reportedly pushed an attempt by Broidy to get the Trump administration to extradite Guo Wengui, the Chinese national.

“Broidy allegedly lobbied to have Guo removed from the United States at the request of Low and a Chinese government official,” the Post says. Davis, Broidy’s business associate who recently entered a guilty plea, admitted to prosecutors that she “helped route an $8 million retainer to Broidy for the influence campaign,” as the Post explains, adding that Low also offered to pay an additional $75 million if the 1MDB investigation was shut down within 180 days.

The evidence against Broidy appears to be well lined up. Davis, for instance, has also admitted to having met with the aforementioned Chinese government official and Broidy (alongside rapper Pras Michel) in a Hong Kong hotel in 2017. Broidy’s subsequent targets for his lobbying included then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, and Trump himself. Then-White House counsel Don McGahn reportedly privately took credit for having helped “kill” the extradition request after it got passed along.



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