Partner Josh Rosenstein shares his opinion on the DOJ’s second known LDA investigation.
But the disclosure of any investigation at all is notable and, taken together with charges brought against disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff earlier this summer, could signal that DOJ is “actively now looking into potential LDA violations,” said Josh Rosenstein, a lawyer with Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock who advises clients on lobbying laws. That, along with prosecutions in recent years targeting high-profile figures’ failure to register as foreign agents, “very well may reveal a trend in DOJ’s renewed focus broadly on enforcing laws concerning advocacy.”
Partner Joe Birkenstock comments on court battles leading up to the 2020 election.
“They’re not going to be shutting down in two, six, eight months,” said Joe Birkenstock, who previously served as chief counsel of the Democratic National Committee, of the Trump campaign. “Think of it in terms of years.”
Partner Josh Rosenstein comments on controversial Trump fundraiser Elliot Broidy, as he is charged for lobbying conspiracy.
“These allegations read almost like a textbook FARA violation,” Joshua Rosenstein, a lawyer at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein and Birkenstock who specializes in the Foreign Agents Registration Act, tells Rolling Stone. “Based on what DOJ laid out, Broidy and his co-conspirators appear to have flouted this crucial national security statute with sheer impunity, actively seeking to shield their lobbying of the White House and their illegal payments from public view. The question remains whether the President may end up intervening in this process in behalf of another old friend of his.”
Josh Rosenstein shares his thoughts on Al Jazeera’s case against an order to register as a foreign agent.
“I think it would be extraordinarily difficult to challenge DOJ’s decision on the grounds that there was political influence somewhere along the line, by enemies of this foreign regime,” said Josh Rosenstein, a government ethics lawyer at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein and Birkenstock . “Lobbyists and foreign agents make (subject to FEC regulations) political contributions all the time. They lobby for certain outcomes. The process may be unseemly, but it doesn’t make the resultant decision unlawful. If there were allegations of actual bribery involved, then perhaps it would be a stronger basis to challenge the decision.”
“In order to pull this off,” Rosenstein added, “the outlet would likely have to sue DOJ directly … for a declaratory judgment that DOJ’s conclusion was incorrect and that the outlet is exempt from registration or otherwise not subject to FARA. That’s going to be a fact-specific inquiry for the court, and will turn on the court’s interpretation of the same evidence that one presumes DOJ had reviewed prior to issuing the determination notice: the level of any editorial control by any foreign government; the corporate ownership structure of the outlet; whether there’s any policy that the outlet’s viewpoint has to match any policies of a foreign country, and so on.”
He said Al Jazeera could also also informally appeal internally to the Attorney General’s office asking the department to reconsider, since FARA permits the AG to issue his own exemptions in certain cases.
“That’s something that’s often done, but it’s usually done prior to a public determination letter being released,” Rosenstein said. “One can surmise that the AG’s office was already aware of this and declined to hold it up.”
Partner Josh Rosenstein shares his thoughts with ABC News, on the legal scrutiny Rudy Giuliani has been receiving.
Joshua Rosenstein, a government ethics lawyer at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein and Birkenstock, told ABC News that FARA requirements “may well have been triggered” if Giuliani was acting in a certain capacity in his work with Derkach.
“If Giuliani was acting in any way at the specific request of, or under the direction/control/supervision of, the politicians with regard to any political activity in the U.S., then he would likely have to register,” Rosenstein said.
Joe Birkenstock spoke with Politico’s Josh Gerstein about campaign finance disclosure:
“I think it’s significant. The earth moved when the district court opinion came out,” said Joe Birkenstock of Sandler Reiff, a firm that advises Democratic-leaning political groups. “That district court opinion called for much broader disclosure than had previously been the case.”
Josh Rosenstein comments on charges brought against lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Unlike some other potential unregistered lobbyists, Abramoff can’t argue he’s not familiar with the law, said Josh Rosentein, another lawyer who’s an expert in lobbying law.
Joe Birkenstock Comments on the Push to Reform US Foreign Influence Law Stalls.
Joe Birkenstock at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock in Washington, DC, also does not expect it to be considered in the near future, but added that the issue of reforming the 80-year-old law won’t go away and it could well be picked up again by the legislative branch of the US government at some stage.
“The odds of some FARA reform passing eventually are good in the long term, but it won’t happen in this Congress as far as I can see,” he said.