Foreign Agents
How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (podtrac.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
For the full and ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices