DOJ Probing GOP Fundraiser Elliott Broidy for Allegedly Trying to Sell His Influence with Trump White House

The Justice Department is investigating former national deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee Elliott Broidy for his alleged attempts to “sell his influence with the Trump administration,” The Washington Post reports. The DOJ is reportedly looking into whether Broidy offered to “deliver U.S. government actions for foreign officials” for tens of millions in return. The investigation is looking into a plan he allegedly hatched to coax the Trump administration into releasing “a Chinese dissident” back to his home country, and investigating whether Broidy sought $75 million from a Malaysian business official in exchange for stopping the DOJ investigation into a Malaysian government development fund. Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was recently arrested for personally embezzling $700 million from a government development fund. The DOJ also subpoenaed former RNC finance chair and casino mogul Steve Wynn “for copies of records and communications related to Broidy,” whose lawyer said that he is “completely cooperating with the investigation.” Broidy, a longtime GOP fundraiser, resigned from his position at the RNC after it was revealed that he agreed to pay a former Playboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about their affair in a deal brokered by President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen. In a statement, Broidy's lawyer, Chris Clark, said his client “has never agreed to work for, been retained by nor been compensated by any foreign government for any interaction with the United States Government, ever.”