Biden and his allies received funds from lobbyist Richard Burt just months before the Democratic administration in Washington decided to scrap sanctions on a firm overseeing the construction of the contested pipeline, conservative newspaper The New York Post has reported.
Burt, a former US ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, donated USD 4,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in October 2020 and pitched in a further USD 10,000 "in the lefty-aligned political action committee Unite The County in March 2020," according to the nypost.com website.
It said the data came from the US Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In addition to violating Biden’s own campaign pledge not to take lobbyist cash, the money from Burt "is particularly noteworthy as he is currently directly engaged in lobbying activities for Nord Stream 2 AG," The New York Post said.
It cited a Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesman it did not name as saying that when Burt donated to the Biden Victory Fund, "he failed to acknowledge that he was a registered foreign agent and was therefore ineligible to contribute."
The Democratic National Committee said they had returned the cash after The New York Post’s inquiry, the paper also reported on its website.
The Polish government spokesman said last week that the ongoing construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany under the Baltic Sea was part of a wider “geopolitical power play” by these two countries.
Piotr Müller was speaking after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Joe Biden's administration had waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind the contested undersea gas pipeline, and its CEO Matthias Warnig.
"The construction of Nord Stream 2 is part of a massive geopolitical power play on the part of Russia and Germany," Müller told Polish state television TVP on Thursday.
A spokesman for Poland’s ruling conservatives, Radosław Fogiel, voiced regret last week about the US administration's decision to waive sanctions on the company overseeing the construction of Nord Stream 2.
Polish Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marcin Horała said earlier in the week that "the US sanctions decisions are bound to cause concern, especially as the move has been presented in the media as Washington in a sense consenting to Nord Stream 2."
Republican lawmakers in the United States have slammed the Biden administration's decision to waive sanctions on the company in charge of building the disputed pipeline, news media have reported.
A US State Department report sent to Congress earlier this month concluded that Nord Stream 2 AG and Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity, but Blinken immediately waived those sanctions, citing US national interests, the Reuters news agency reported.
It noted that the decision came as the Biden administration seeks to rebuild ties with Germany after those were strained under Donald Trump's presidency.
The US State Department has instead slapped sanctions on four Russian ships, including the pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy, while also imposing measures on five other Russian entities, including the Russian Marine Rescue Service, according to Reuters.
Blinken said in a statement on May 19: "Today's actions demonstrate the administration’s commitment to energy security in Europe, consistent with the President’s pledge to rebuild relationships with our allies and partners in Europe."
Nord Stream 2, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, is expected to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Poland has strongly criticized the gas link amid concerns that the pipeline will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.
(gs/pk)
Source: polsatnews.pl, foxnews.com, nypost.com