Josh Rosenstein Shares Comments with NPR, POLITICO, Bloomberg and the Washington Post on the Acquittal of Former White House Counsel Gregory Craig

Gregory Craig, a former top legal adviser to President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton, was found not guilty of lying to the Justice Department for concealing media contacts in relation to his work for the Ukrainian government.

The trial for Craig was “an unusual case with regard to the fact pattern,” said Josh Rosenstein, who advises clients on FARA compliance. “But if you pull back the lens a little, you see the latest in a string of enforcement activities, coupled with a restructuring of the FARA unit and a recommitment to using FARA as part of the Department of Justice’s national security apparatus. And I don’t see that changing.”

“The interesting question now is whether the department will be more hesitant to jump right into criminal prosecutions because of this — what I think people are viewing as an embarrassing loss for them,” said Joshua Ian Rosenstein, a FARA expert and attorney with Sandler, Reiff, Lamb, Rosenstein & Birkenstock.

Whatever officials decide in terms of prosecutions, Rosenstein said he thinks it’s unlikely the department will pull back significantly from enforcing FARA more broadly.

“It’s unlikely and may be almost impossible for them to completely revert to where they were before,” he said. “They may be more circumspect in which prosecutions they bring, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to be more aggressive than they were in years prior.”

You can read Partner Josh Rosenstein’s comments on the acquittal in the following articles:

Washington Post

NPR

POLITICO

Bloomberg