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"Politicization at the Justice Department," a DC lawyer reader writes. "Does it extend to the FARA unit?"
[Houston lobbyist] Stephen Payne claims the FARA unit told him he didn't need to register as a foreign agent for Azerbaijan because he was exempt from registration under the commercial activities exception of FARA - a claim that is laughable to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the statute:http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/07/15/analysis_more_bush_library_sleaze_charges/7bab/
So either Payne is lying to the press - or the Bush White House reached down into the bowels of the Justice Department to allow "loyal Bushies" to profit from representing brutal authoritarian regimes without the hassle of having to disclose what they were doing.
This would be the same Justice Department that has zealously pursued, with varying degrees of success, fundraisers for Islamic charities for failing to register as foreign agents.