Trump’s new Spy Chief’s ties with Hungary

In 2016, the Magyar Foundation of North America paid $103,750 for “public relations” services to the consulting firm of Richard Grenell, Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, called Capitol Media Partners, according to the foundation’s tax filing, reports govexec.com. The foundation was funded and supervised by Hungary’s government, according to records obtained by Hungarian nonprofit news organisation Atlatszo. The foundation’s director, Jo Anne Barnhart, had been a registered lobbyist for Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The work for Hungary is Grenell’s second foreign consulting engagement that was not previously disclosed. On Friday, ProPublica reported that Grenell did consulting work on behalf of Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc, who the U.S. later said was involved in corruption. Craig Engle, a lawyer of Grenell’s, said Grenell did not have to register under FARA because “he was not working at the direction of a foreign power”.

Grenell, however, did not register, even though public relations work on behalf of a foreign government falls strictly under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, according to lawyers specialising in the matter. FARA is the same law that Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, were convicted of violating.

Grenell’s past work for Hungary was first reported on the blog of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a foreign policy think tank whose funders include conservative billionaire Charles Koch and liberal financier George Soros. In emails published in the blog post, Engle said Grenell knew that the Hungarian government was the “sponsor” of the foundation. He said Grenell’s work did not “qualify as registerable activity” under FARA but did not expand on it. Engle, whose practice at the firm called Arent Fox includes FARA compliance, was also a board member of the foundation and served as its lawyer.