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International shenanigans that occurred as part of Barack Obama’s administration are now coming to light.
During Obama’s tenure as president, Richard G. Olsen was Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2015 and 2016.
Prior to that appointment, Olsen had served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates as well as Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs in the U.S. Embassy, Kabul with the rank of Ambassador.
Olsen was a career member of the Foreign Service for 34 years.
The Washington Post now reports that a long-running federal investigation has brought to light a ferocious — and lucrative — battle for influence in Washington waged between the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar and its regional rival the United Arab Emirates, as Donald Trump prepared to take office and engage in new rounds of Middle East diplomacy.
Olson has admitted that he lied on ethics paperwork and broke so-called ‘revolving door’ statutes, according to The Post.
The report noted that the misdemeanor violations came in connection with Olson lobbying for Qatar within a year of his retirement from the federal government.
Olson admitted in plea documents filed in court in June 2017 that he contacted an unnamed third person who is defense identified as Allen in order to help “provide aid and advice to Qatari government officials with the intent to influence” American foreign policy following a blockade of Qatar by the UAE and ally Saudi Arabia, the Post reported.
In court papers, Olson admitted he failed to disclose in annual ethics forms as required that he accepted a first-class airline ticket from New Mexico to London, as well as a stay in a luxury hotel in January 2015 — all of which were worth approximately $20,000 — from a Pakistani-American businessman who was not identified by the federal government but whose description matches U.S. businessman Imaad Zuberi, the Post report continued.
Zuberi is a major donor to both political parties, and was sentenced in February 2020 to 12 years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, foreign influence-peddling, and violations of campaign finance laws, The Post reported.
“Olson admitted meeting with a Bahrain businessman, who would offer him a one-year $300,000 contract for work after he left the State Department,” the report said.
Zuberi, Olson and “Person 3” traveled to Doha, “where the latter pair met with various Qatari officials including its emir, then returned to meet in Washington with members of Congress.”
In July, The Post also reports, billionaire Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. was criminally charged with obstructing justice and acting as an unregistered agent for the UAE.
The Washington Post’s report continues: In pre-plea proceedings in federal court in Washington, Olson’s defense counsel said he admitted to the misdemeanor charges — each punishable by up to one year in prison at his sentencing Sept. 13 — and cooperated with federal prosecutors on the understanding that they were also investigating and pursuing criminal charges against retired four-star Marine Gen. John G. Allen.
Allen commanded U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before retiring in 2013.
He was tapped in late 2017 as president of Washington’s influential Brookings Institution, to which Qatar agreed in 2013 to donate $14.8 million over four years.
During a hearing on May 27 and in previous court filings, J. Michael Hannon, Olson’s attorney, pressed federal prosecutors about why Allen has yet to be charged.
“Exculpatory evidence about Allen could mitigate Olson’s sentence or invalidate his plea agreement, Hannon argued, saying a decision not to charge the general could mean prosecutors improperly ‘induced’ a guilty plea from the diplomat who relied on government representations that he might be recommended leniency at sentencing for his cooperation,” noted the Post.
The Post continues, Hannon told U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey, who presided over the case and accepted Olson’s plea: “If in fact there is no case against General John R. Allen [for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act], we think that that is a significant piece of information for sentencing, just as we believe that an inducement to enter into this plea agreement is important to the court.”
Evan Turgeon, a prosecutor with the Justice Department’s national security division, told the court in an earlier hearing that Allen’s case remains open and that the government never offered Olson leniency in exchange for his cooperation in his signed plea deal.
Turgeon said, “We dispute the statement that the government has made a prosecutorial decision as to other persons.”
He added, “Nothing related to General Allen has any bearing on the false statement the defendant made on an Office of Government Ethics form in May of 2016, and that was a full year before General Allen’s involvement in activities related to Qatar.”
Olsen’s involvement in a “secretive effort to unduly influence the Trump administration” suggests there is more to this story, and the investigation continues as to additional individuals involved as well as the depth of deception.
All of this happened during Obama’s tenure, and just before Trump took office.
Source: The Republic Brief