Elliot Broidy, Top GOP Fundraiser, Investigated For Exchanging Access To Trump For Business Deals

Top GOP fundraiser Elliot Broidy is being investigated by a federal grand jury over accusations that he illegally used access to President Donald Trump in order to gain leverage in several international business deals.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York, issued a subpoena recently that required documents from Trump’s inaugural committee, which Broidy was the vice chair of. The 20 businesses and individuals which the records pertain to all have connections to Broidy, either through his defense contracting and investment firms or through foreign officials he attempted to negotiate deals with. The biggest names found on the subpoena were two politicians from Romania and the sitting president of Angola.

The main issue which prosecutors are investigating is whether Broidy used his position on the inaugural committee to make more lucrative deals with foreign entities by offering access to Trump as part of the deal. Some federal officials think it possible that Broidy could have given out invitations to the 2017 inaugural events in order to advance his own economic goals.

Broidy’s attorneys adamantly denied any under the table dealings. In a statement released to the Associated Press, the GOP fundraiser’s legal team said that at no point did Broidy or his global security firm have a contract with or exchange money with “any Romanian government agency, proxy or agent.” While Broidy’s company did make a deal with Angola in 2016, his lawyers said that it was totally unrelated to the inaugural events and Broidy’s role on the committee.

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In addition to the investigation by Brooklyn federal prosecutors, government officials from Manhattan are looking into the inaugural committee’s whopping $107 million in funds raised to determine if any part of that was from unlawful foreign donations. The inquiry stemmed from a request by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) that the Justice Department determine whether Broidy “used access to President Trump as a valuable enticement to foreign officials who may be in a position to advance Mr. Broidy’s business interests abroad.”

Article by Daniel Knopf