A registered foreign agent for the government of Azerbaijan is in charge of the money for a new Super PAC which looks to assist Democrat candidate Joe Biden in his bid for the presidency in 2020. In its Statement of Organization, the new committee, called Unite the Country, lists Larry Rasky as the treasurer.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938 requires that any agent representing the interests of a foreign government disclose that relationship, along with pertinent information about their activities and finances. Records on file at the Department of Justice show that Rasky, along with his company Rasky Partners, is a foreign agent lobbying on behalf of Azerbaijan.
According to the employment agreement, which is included in the Justice Department documents, Rasky was employed by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Services provided by Rasky to Azerbaijan included, “strategic communication counsel and services.” Also included in the scope of Rasky’s duties were “public relations services and support.” The initial contract was set to run from April 29 of this year until October 28, with both parties having the option to extend it by mutual agreement.
In his contract with Azerbaijan, Rasky and his company received $94,500 per month for his work for the country.
Rasky has worked on Biden’s two previous presidential runs as an aide. Unite the Country will purportedly infuse Biden’s 2020 campaign with millions of dollars in spending.
Politico reports that Rasky has previously assisted the current Biden campaign by asking donors to send checks made out to “Biden for President” to the offices of Rasky Partners located in Boston.
The new Super PAC represents a reversal for Biden, who has previously stated that he opposed accepting that type of support, a fact that Rasky himself pointed out in a fundraising e-mail sent to donors.
“Because Joe will not work with a Super PAC or take PAC money for his campaign, everyone is limited to $2,800 as a maximum gift,” Rasky wrote in April. “That will require a lot of work and a lot of checks to finance a presidential campaign effort.”
Back in August, Politico also reported that Rasky may have been involved in the nebulous purchase of hedge fund Paradigm Global Advisors by Biden’s son Hunter and his younger brother James in 2006.
According to Politico: “James and Hunter brought in Larry Rasky, a lobbyist and longtime Biden adviser, who at one point, according to court records, was going to provide $1 million in financing.” Rasky has neither confirmed nor denied his involvement with that purchase.
Azerbaijan is not the only country that Rasky has lobbied on behalf of. His firm has previously worked for a political party in Bangladesh until January of this year. A previous company fronted by Rasky, Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, represented foreign interests in Japan, Hungary, Congo, and Serbia.
It’s important to note that Rasky’s involvement with those foreign entities is not illegal. It is, however, very interesting when you consider the accusations that Joe Biden used his influence as vice president in the Obama administration to interfere with the internal politics of foreign nations — a fact that Biden himself admitted at a Council on Foreign Relations event in 2018. Biden threatened Ukrainian officials with withholding a billion dollars in aid if a prosecutor, who was reportedly investigating his son Hunter’s involvement with a Ukrainian energy company, wasn’t fired.
“I looked at them and said, “I’m leaving in six hours,” the former vice-president remembered. “If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son-of-a- b**ch. He got fired.”
While Democrats in the House of Representatives look to impeach President Donald Trump based on a phone call with the president of Ukraine — in which they imagine Trump was threatening to withhold aid from the country unless an investigation was opened into Hunter Biden’s dealings with a Ukrainian energy company — Joe Biden is on record actually admitting to such activity.
Joe Biden portrays himself as a “man of the people.” But his associations and actions show him to be something else entirely. Biden has shown his proclivity to use his position of influence to enrich his family, if not himself. He is the embodiment of the corruption that the Democrats are accusing Trump of.
As for Rasky, with his history of working for foreign governments, the question must be asked, “Considering that his super PAC is called Unite the Country, which country is he looking to unite?”
Image of Larry Rasky: Screenshot from rasky.com
