A2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 , 2019
the chaos Sunday afternoon.
Police said he could face a
terrorist threat charge. They
added that two people suffered
minor injuries.5 killed in collision in Nebraska:
Authorities say two women and
three children died when their
vehicle collided with a truck on a
Nebraska Panhandle highway.
The crash occurred about 6 p.m.
Sunday, about 10 miles north of
Bridgeport on U.S. Highway 385.
The Nebraska State Patrol says a
northbound SUV went out of
control during heavy rain, crossed
the centerline and hit the
oncoming truck. The patrol said
all five people in the SUV were
killed. The truck driver was taken
to a hospital in Bridgeport with
non-life-threatening injuries, the
patrol said.Family of teen who died trapped
in vehicle sues: The family of a
teenager who died trapped in a
vehicle despite making two 911
pleas for help has filed a wrongful-
death lawsuit against the city of
Cincinnati. The suit filed Monday
in Hamilton County charges the
city and several city officials and
workers with actions it alleges led
to 16-year-old Kyle Plush’s 2018
death. The family says the object
is to find out what went wrong
and make sure it doesn’t happen
again. The city has made changes
after Plush’s death, but his parents
have expressed frustration while
seeking answers. Plush was
apparently pinned by a foldaway
seat when he reached for tennis
gear while his car was parked near
his school. He died of suffocation.
— From news servicesheadlines, patients have become
more vocal in the doctor’s office,
seeking to know what physicians
are doing each step of an exam,
doctors told the Times. They are
also more willing to speak up if
something bothers them,
empowered by these recent
revelations, said Sheryl Ross, an
OB/GYN in Santa Monica.
— Associated PressMasked man throwing object
incites panic at Houston mall:
Hundreds of panicked people
rushed out of a Houston mall after
a masked man jumped on a food
court table and said he would kill
himself before throwing down an
unknown object covered in toilet
paper. Houston police were
searching for the man. Police say
he left Memorial City Mall amidto societal shifts spurred by the
Me Too movement, which
encouraged victims to speak out,
as well as noteworthy abuse cases
involving medical professionals,
the newspaper said.
As these stories makeCALIFORNIASex misconduct claims
against doctors are upThe number of complaints
against California physicians for
sexual misconduct has risen
62 percent since fall of 2017 — a
jump that coincides with the
beginning of the Me Too
movement, according to a
newspaper investigation
published Monday.
A Los Angeles Times analysis of
California medical board data
found complaints of sexual
misconduct, though small in
number, are among the fastest-
growing type of allegation.
During the fiscal year that
ended in June, the board got
11,406 complaints against
physicians and surgeons, the most
it has ever received.
In fiscal 2017-18, 280
complaints were filed against
physicians for sexual misconduct,
compared with 173 the previous
year. In fiscal 2018-19, there were
279.
Many experts link the increaseHAPPENING TODAYFor the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.8:30 a.m. | The Labor Department issues consumer prices for July,
which are estimated to rise 0.2 percent. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/business.
1:45 p.m. | Adm. Karl Schultz, the Coast Guard commandant, visits the
Packer Avenue Marine Terminal to discuss the Coast Guard’s “vital role to
ensure continued growth” in the Philadelphia port and “the $5.4 trillion
annual maritime trade industry.” Visit washingtonpost.com/national for
details.
2 p.m. | President Trump delivers remarks during a visit to Shell’s
Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex in Monaca. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/politics.
7:05 p.m. | The Washington Nationals host the Cincinnati Reds at
Nationals Park. Follow the game at postsports.com.
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A Pennsylvania court heard arguments Monday in comedian Bill
Cosby’s appeal of his sexual assault conviction. Cosby, 82, is serving a
three- to 10-year prison term.BY SPENCER S. HSUFormer Obama White House
counsel Gregory B. Craig was in
federal court Monday as he faces
trial for allegedly lying to the
Justice Department in a prosecu-
tion that has shaken up the capi-
tal’s billion-dollar foreign-influ-
ence industry.
In charging Craig — one of
Washington’s most prominent at-
torneys, in connection with his
work for the Ukraine government
at a leading law firm — the Justice
Department signaled a new era
for the Foreign Agents Registra-
tion Act, a once nearly dormant
law that since 2017 has been in-
voked in more than 20 federal
prosecutions aimed at combating
foreign interference in U.S. poli-
tics.
Craig has pleaded not guilty in
Washington, where opening
statements were expected Tues-
day. The charge against him stems
from alleged public relations
work, rather than lobbying, while
with the law firm Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher & Flom. He is
accused not of failing to register
as a foreign agent under the law,
but of lying and withholding in-
formation from Justice officials
seeking to determine whether he
was required to register.
Still, Washington attorneys
representing foreign govern-
ments have already drawn their
own lessons from his proceed-
ings.
“It’s rare when you see a case
like this, where someone who is
extremely experienced, savvy and
considered a wise person in Wash-
ington, is charged with violating a
law that most would assume that
he or she knows a lot about,” said
Thomas J. Spulak, a partner at the
King & Spalding law firm who
advises on lobbying compliance.
“Everyone who practices in this
area knows it’s going to be a
different day,” Spulak said. “Ei-
ther you come in and tell us [the
Justice Department] the truth,
the whole truth, and don’t leave
out any facts that could be rel-
evant to what you’re telling us, or
you’ll suffer the consequences,” he
said.
The foreign agents act, known
as FARA, was enacted in 1938 in
response to propaganda from
Nazi-inspired groups in the Unit-
ed States. It requires Americans to
publicly register with the attorney
general when they are paid to
influence U.S. policy for foreign
governments, political parties or
politicians.
The law formed the basis of
charges against nearly two dozen
defendants investigated in spe-
cial counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s
probe of Russian interference in
the 2016 election. In the preced-
ing five decades, it factored into
only seven federal prosecutions.
Craig was the first prominent
Democratic figure to be charged
in a case spun off from Mueller’s
office.
Craig, 74, a party stalwart who
was President Barack Obama’s
first White House counsel and
special counsel for his former Yale
Law School classmate, President
Bill Clinton, has called the case
against him “unprecedented andunjustified.”
Craig’s defense argues he has
been singled out for conduct no
one would have thought required
registering under the act at the
time. Specifically, Craig denied
lying to conceal information from
the Justice Department’s FARA
unit as it investigated work he did
with GOP lobbyist Paul Manafort
on behalf of the Ukrainian Justice
Ministry in 2012.
Craig’s attorneys, led by Wil-
liam J. Murphy and William W.
Taylor III, contend he was not
acting under the control or direc-
tion of his clients when he
reached out to reporters to dis-
cuss his law firm’s Ukraine work.
Instead, they said Craig was try-
ing to correct misrepresentations
about the work spread by
Ukraine’s representatives that he
opposed.
The trial has riveted the atten-
tion of Craig’s counterparts
among Washington’s elite and
well-compensated bar of 20 to 30
attorneys concentrated at 10 ma-
jor law firms who advise foreign
entities on navigating the law.
His prosecution is “emblematic
of a more muscular government
approach to enforcement of
FARA,” said David Laufman, a
partner at Wiggin and Dana who
previously oversaw FARA en-
forcement at Justice.
The case underscores “what is
essentially a zero-tolerance policy
for what the Justice Department
regards as false statements” when
the FARA unit investigates
whether a party has an obligation
to register, Laufman said, adding,
“law firms as well as lobbying and
public relations firms can be im-
pacted by FARA if their activities
on behalf of a foreign political
party or government include pub-
lic relations work.”
Mueller’s 22-month investiga-
tion indicted or investigated some
of the most visible players in
Washington over FARA-related
offenses, including former Trump
campaign chairman Manafort;
his deputy, Rick Gates; associate
W. Samuel Patten; and Trump
foreign policy adviser Michael
Flynn.As the special counsel’s probe
concluded in March, Assistant At-
torney General for National Secu-
rity John C. Demers formally an-
nounced the department’s shift
“from treating FARA as an admin-
istrative obligation and regulato-
ry obligation to one that is in-
creasingly an enforcement priori-
ty.” He named veteran Mueller
team member and federal pros-
ecutor Brandon Van Grack to lead
the FARA unit.
A Justice Department spokes-
man declined to comment on the
impact of the National Security
Division’s increased enforcement.
But the reaction by lobbyists
and law firms appears to be sharp.
The number of foreign agents
registering annually with the Jus-
tice Department has surged
30 percent since 2016 to more
than 460 this calendar year, after
years of hovering near 350, ac-
cording to the government’s
FARA website.
Registrants reported their for-
eign clients spent $1.2 billion to
influence U.S. policy since 2017,
according to the Center for Re-
sponsive Politics. U.S. allies Israel,
South Korea, Japan and Saudi
Arabia are top spenders, with ri-
vals China and Russia also within
the top 10, the center reported.
The department has also
pressed several media providers
for Russian state-owned televi-
sion and radio outlets RT and
Sputnik to register, as well as the
U.S. division of China Global Tele-
vision Network, formerly known
as CCTV.
Amid those actions, Craig was
charged in April with making
false statements in connection
with his law firm’s work with
Manafort and Gates.
Manafort served as a political
adviser to Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych, and in 2012
helped arranged for Craig and
Skadden to be hired to write a
report reviewing the jailing of
Yanukovych’s political rival, Yulia
Tymoshenko.
The report offered a mixed re-
view of her trial. But human rights
advocates charged that it white-
washed Yanukovych’s actions,while Manafort made the report
the centerpiece of an undisclosed
lobbying campaign to improve
Yanukovych’s reputation in the
West.
Prosecutors allege interactions
Craig had with the media to ex-
plain and publicize the report in
December 2012 triggered a re-
quirement to register. They con-
tend he did not want to register
because he believed it could pre-
vent him from reentering govern-
ment service and because he
feared having to disclose that
Ukrainian businessman Viktor
Pinchuk had paid the firm
$4.15 million for the report, un-
dermining perceptions of Skad-
den’s independence.
In a statement at his indict-
ment and through lawyers, Craig
said he had not acted on Ukraine’s
behalf when he briefed journal-
ists and instead had been working
to correct Ukrainian spin about
Skadden’s work.
Craig’s attorneys said his work
on the Tymoshenko case came “as
an independent expert on the rule
of law, not as an advocate for the
client,” and that he refused re-
quests to participate in Ukraine’s
lobbying around the report.
Last week, U.S. District Judge
Amy Berman Jackson granted a
motion by Craig’s defense to dis-
miss one of two counts against
him. She struck a charge alleging
Craig made false statements un-
der FARA in an Oct. 11, 2013, letter
submitted to the department, cit-
ing a lack of clarity in the law. But
she allowed his trial to proceed on
a general false statements charge.
Skadden in January reached a
settlement with the Justice De-
partment, admitting it should
have registered for its work in
2012 and 2013, and agreed to turn
over $4.6 million it made for the
report in exchange for facing no
criminal charges. In its settle-
ment, Skadden agreed that an
initial finding by the Justice De-
partment in 2014 that the firm did
not need to register came after the
agency relied on “false and mis-
leading oral and written state-
ments” made by Craig.
spencer.hsu@washpost.comTrial shows pressure on foreign-influence industry
ZACH GIBSON/GETTY IMAGES
Former White House counsel Gregory B. Craig is accused of lying to federal officials.Retropolis
S0129-2x2.Stories of the past, rediscovered.washingtonpost.com/retropolisDefeat The Heat! Being Cold Gets Old!
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