Q: What is the penalty for a FARA violation? Manafort went ahead, talked to the FARA office at the Department of Justice, made retroactive filings and apparently lied on those retroactive filings. The second FARA charge was making materially false statements on the FARA disclosures that were filed. The first FARA charge was failure to register. What’s particularly fascinating about the indictment is the second FARA charge. Mueller possesses, this is about as textbook an example of a FARA violation as I can think of. Rosenstein: Assuming that the indictment bears out in terms of the actual evidence Mr. Do prosecutors have enough evidence to obtain a FARA criminal conviction? Q: Give us your read on the Manafort/Gates indictment. So operating with too small a budget and too small a purview is a recipe for frustration.
The higher the priority placed on enforcement of a particular law, the larger the budget needs to be. The second issue is that the FARA unit is relatively small. Having the ability to compel individuals suspected of being unregistered agents of foreign governments to participate and produce documents, theoretically to produce testimony as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation, is critical to ensuring enforcement. Rosenstein: One of them may have been addressed in Senator Grassley’s bill, if it’s passed and the president signs it. Q: What changes are needed to toughen enforcement of FARA? You (also) have members of Congress who have held hearings and will hold more hearings on FARA itself (and that) will lead to increased attention by the FARA office to be more aggressive within the bounds of their budget and statutory restraint. Seeing an indictment being brought for specific FARA violations is a sign that the law itself is really on the radar of prosecutors in general and certainly the Justice Department. Part of the reason that was happening is because nobody felt that there was a stick to go along with whatever theoretical carrot there would have been.īut that has changed now (with) the very high-profile indictment all over the press. Washington’s worst kept secret is that shadow lobbying, particularly on behalf of foreign governments, has been taking place (for generations). Rosenstein: This was really earth shattering for the legal community, folks like myself who do FARA law and political law, but it was also really earth shattering for the regulated advocacy community. Q: Tell us how the Manafort/Gates indictment is playing out on Washington's K Street? The interview has been edited for length and clarity. In an interview with VOA, Joshua Ian Rosenstein, a partner at the law firm of Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock who advises clients on FARA compliance, discusses the fallout from the indictment. Top Republicans, Senator Chuck Grassley and Representative Mike Johnson, introduced identical bills on Tuesday to empower the Department of Justice to enforce FARA. Special counsel Robert Mueller's decision to include FARA charges in a 12-count indictment against Manafort and Gates has put the foreign lobbying community on notice that the Department of Justice will toughen enforcement.Īnd members of Congress are looking into fixing what critics see as a broken system. FILE - Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington, June 21, 2017.
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