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In this episode, Ron talks to Casey Michel (Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation) about his book Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World and how foreign money influences our politics.
They discuss:
(01:46) The shadow world of foreign lobbying
(03:45) Ivy Lee and Paul Manafort
(07:36) The First Amendment and foreign influence
(10:23) Understanding FARA
(13:28) How Paul Manafort shaped modern lobbying
(15:49) Legal loopholes and foreign influence in politics
(18:11) The case of Viktor Pinchuk
(22:13) The Trump Administration’s impact on foreign lobbying
(27:19) How Universities and Think tanks are the new frontier of influence
(33:05) Colorful characters in foreign lobbying
(41:39) The Biden Family and foreign influence accusations
(45:27) Contrasting foreign influence on Trump and Clinton
(49:00) Proposed reforms
Read Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World: https://bit.ly/4giHjBK
Check out the HRF’s Combatting Kleptocracy Program: https://bit.ly/4hAAQTJ
Follow Ron and Casey on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/RonSteslow
https://x.com/cjcmichel
Email your questions to podcast@politicology.com or leave us a voicemail at (202) 455-4558
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