One reason there is often little trust left in America regarding certain institutions or government is because little trust is warranted.
It seems as if politicians (of various parties) will say anything and if they (and others) say it enough it seemingly becomes true.
Prior posts here and here have highlighted laughable and bungled Foreign Corrupt Practices Act commentary by various conservative commentators concerning the Bidens and the FCPA. (During the Trump administration there were certain things written about Trump and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that were just plain absurd, legally inaccurate, and/or completely devoid of context. See here and here for instance).
The latest absurd commentary comes from Representative Josh Brecheen (R-OK).
For starters, Brecheen called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act the “Corrupt Foreign Practices Act,” but that is close enough and perhaps the non-lawyer Representative deserves a pass on that one.
During this interview, Brecheen stated:
“the corrupt foreign practices act says that you don’t have to be an office holder … and be a recipient of funds yourself … if you have family members that are recipient of funds, then that is a violation of federal statute.”
As discussed previously in connection with other recent FCPA commentary and the Bidens, there are two problems with Brecheen’s statement.
First, the FCPA only captures the payor of a “bribe” – not the recipient of a “bribe.”
Second, the FCPA only captures the offer, promise or payment of money or anything of value, directly or indirectly, to a foreign official, for purposes of influencing the foreign official, in order to assist in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA does not capture paying “bribes” – directly or indirectly – to U.S. officials.
Whether Representative Brecheen’s (and others) recent commentary was negligent, reckless, or intentional is an open question.
Regardless, when accusing someone of a criminal activity, it should be incumbent upon an elected official to actually know what the invoked law actually captures and does not capture.
When this is absent, trust in government and elected officials diminishes.
