The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“FOREIGN ACTORS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S7103-S7104 on Nov. 30, 2020.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FOREIGN ACTORS
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as America waits for the results of the 2020 election to be certified in a couple of weeks, former Vice President Joe Biden has begun to announce his picks for his Cabinet and other high-ranking positions.
Some of these nominees have close ties to investment and other consulting firms whose clients are largely unknown or who may be even the subjects of nondisclosure agreements. The truth is that these individuals could be working on behalf of a ``feel good'' nonprofit, a malicious foreign actor, or a large company with business before the government. The truth of the matter is, we have simply no idea what kind of business or financial relationships these individuals have with foreign powers that could influence their actions as high-ranking government officials. This goes way beyond compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. This is an ethical issue. It is a conflict-of-
interest issue, and Americans deserve to know if these nominees have connections or relationships that could cloud their judgment on behalf of the American people if they are confirmed.
When it comes to the business dealings of those who could serve in high-ranking government positions, full transparency is the only option. So I encourage each of these individuals, if nominated, to take an open-book approach throughout the hearings and confirmation processes. In fact, I will make a pledge here today that I will not support any nominee who doesn't provide full transparency into his work on behalf of a foreign government. I will not do it. The American people deserve to know if these or any future nominees are beholden to anything other than our national interest.
Just to make the point that this is not some imaginary or hypothetical problem, let me refer to an article that was written today in the Associated Press News, entitled: `` `Mercenary' donor sold access for millions in foreign money.'' This is a story of a so-called elite political fundraiser, Imaad Zuberi, who, maybe not surprisingly, raised a lot of money for Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama and who also became the top donor to the Trump Presidential Inaugural Committee. In other words, he wasn't particularly partisan. He just wanted to be close to power and be able to influence it.
Prosecutors who have now prosecuted him for a variety of violations of campaign finance laws and foreign lobbying laws have called him a mercenary political donor. His foreign entanglements were quite extensive. He lobbied as an unregistered foreign agent for at least half a dozen countries and officials, including a Ukrainian oligarch who was close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He lobbied for countries like Turkey and Sri Lanka, among others. As I said, it really doesn't make a difference so much which country. It was the fact that he was lobbying in an undisclosed fashion, raising money for political candidates, and violating campaign finance laws for which he has now pled guilty and will be awaiting sentencing after the first of the year.
We spent a lot of the last 4 years--and, certainly, as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, we spent about 3\1/2\ years--investigating Russian interference with the 2016 election. Yet, as this story makes clear, Zuberi's story shows there are far easier ways to bend American foreign policy than by using sophisticated hacking tools or well-funded troll farms. In other words, you can do it the way he has done it, which is by violating our foreign agent registration laws, representing foreign governments and foreign interests, and hiring lobbyists and cutting out donors in a way that funnels foreign money into the American political process--unbeknownst to people like us unless it is disclosed.
Between 1966 and 2015, the Department of Justice brought just seven criminal cases for violating the law relating to registering as a foreign lobbyist, according to a 2016 inspector general's report. So this is a serious topic.
The incoming chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, Senator Grassley, and the current ranking member, Senator Feinstein, and I have a bipartisan bill to reform the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but this is going to be front and center in the confirmation process for any nominee by the incoming administration, and I just think it is fair to place everybody on fair notice that full transparency is the only option.
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