Menendez Calls on DoJ to Review Former Rep. Rivera’s Work as a Foreign Agent for the Maduro Regime
“The last thing we should tolerate is a former member of Congress potentially violating U.S. laws as he does the [Maduro] regime’s dirty work in the United States.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today called on the Department of Justice to review whether former Florida Republican Congressman David Rivera violated the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) in his work for the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). The Senator’s letter follows reports that PDVSA offered to pay millions to the Florida congressman for “strategic consulting services.”
“Recent press reports and a lawsuit suggest that former Congressman David M. Rivera (R-FL-25) worked on behalf of a foreign principal and conducted activities covered under the registration requirements of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). I therefore request that the Department of Justice review whether Mr. Rivera was in compliance with FARA, including whether he has an obligation to retroactively register as a foreign agent on behalf of the Maduro regime,” wrote Menendez in a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General John Demers.
“If the U.S. Government is to be taken seriously in our efforts to defend and protect the Venezuelan people from the tyranny of the Maduro regime, the last thing we should tolerate is a former member of Congress potentially violating U.S. laws as he does the regime’s dirty work in the United States,” continued Menendez.
Click HERE for the full text of the letter.
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