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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew: DOJ says Saudi Aramco lobbyists don't have to register under the FARA.
NEW: The DOJ recently issued a legal opinion that exempts a Saudi Aramco lobbyists from registering under the FARA.
This new loophole means that details of Saudi Arabias US influence efforts can remain hidden.
This new loophole means that details of Saudi Arabias US influence efforts can remain hidden.
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New Disclosure Loophole Allows Saudi Aramco Lobbyists Not to Register Under FARA
November 18, 2019
In a rule that could have wide-reaching consequences, the Department of Justice recently issued a legal opinion that appears to exempt a Saudi-owned oil companys lobbyists from registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to a CREW analysis of lobbying disclosures and DOJ records. The lobbyists have instead been permitted to disclose their work under the less rigorous Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).
As a result, information that would have been disclosed under FARAincluding detailed lists of the lobbyists meetings with government officialshas effectively been withheld from the government and the public, thus hiding details of a lobbying campaign that could be considered part of Saudi Arabias U.S. influence efforts.
More broadly, the DOJs legal opinion appears to establish a general loophole in FARA that allows corporations that are wholly owned by a foreign state-owned company to obscure the full extent of their influence efforts in the United States. This is a highly concerning policy, especially since it seems to have been put in place in response to a request from a company owned by the Saudi Arabian government, which has a long history of seeking to influence the U.S. government through both open and covert means.
The opinion appears to have prompted a direct rebuke from the House Appropriations Committee, which has stated its belief that the DOJs current guidance allows state-owned entities to avoid FARA registration even while promoting their foreign owners interests.
More: https://www.citizensforethics.org/loophole-saudi-aramco-lobbyists-fara/
November 18, 2019
In a rule that could have wide-reaching consequences, the Department of Justice recently issued a legal opinion that appears to exempt a Saudi-owned oil companys lobbyists from registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to a CREW analysis of lobbying disclosures and DOJ records. The lobbyists have instead been permitted to disclose their work under the less rigorous Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).
As a result, information that would have been disclosed under FARAincluding detailed lists of the lobbyists meetings with government officialshas effectively been withheld from the government and the public, thus hiding details of a lobbying campaign that could be considered part of Saudi Arabias U.S. influence efforts.
More broadly, the DOJs legal opinion appears to establish a general loophole in FARA that allows corporations that are wholly owned by a foreign state-owned company to obscure the full extent of their influence efforts in the United States. This is a highly concerning policy, especially since it seems to have been put in place in response to a request from a company owned by the Saudi Arabian government, which has a long history of seeking to influence the U.S. government through both open and covert means.
The opinion appears to have prompted a direct rebuke from the House Appropriations Committee, which has stated its belief that the DOJs current guidance allows state-owned entities to avoid FARA registration even while promoting their foreign owners interests.
More: https://www.citizensforethics.org/loophole-saudi-aramco-lobbyists-fara/
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New: DOJ says Saudi Aramco lobbyists don't have to register under the FARA. (Original Post)
MelissaB
Nov 2019
OP
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)1. "Let's pump some slimy green water into the swamp"
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)2. Lets call it what it is,
the Kushner Rule. Next will come the Putin Rule.
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)3. WTF.
And we thought "1984" was an awful portrait of our potential dissociative relationship to reality!