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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 [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at ‪(202) 455-4558‬ 


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