Even Elliot Broidy Couldn’t Buy A Golf Date For Malaysian Premier With Trump
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Disgraced Republican fundraiser Elliot Broidy used his connections to urge President Trump to play a game of golf with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Razak, who is under investigation by American prosecutors for the alleged embezzlement of $3.5 billion, was denied the customary Oval Office photo during his visit with the president last year because of worry from White House aides.
And despite Broidy’s push, he wound up not getting to hit the links with the First Duffer, either.
Broidy, who recently quit as a top Republican National Committee leader after it was revealed that he paid $1.6M in hush money to a Playboy centerfold, may have hoped to gain access to a lucrative Malaysian contract for his private defense company, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
Broidy reportedly personally appealed to Trump in June requesting a one-on-one golf date with Razak during the prime minister’s upcoming Washington visit, and “the president told me he would be happy to play golf with the PM,” Broidy wrote in an email to the White House chief of staff, John Kelly. But Kelly apparently nixed the date.
Trump could have faced criticism about being indifferent to corruption had he accepted the golf date. The Justice Department reportedly filed a lawsuit seeking to seize $540 million in American assets purchased with money Razak allegedly stole.
Contact Haley Cohen at hcohen@forward.com
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