Reid retirement follows call for probe of his role in visas-for-cash mess
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's announcement Friday that he won't seek re-election in 2016 came at the end of a week in which his role in pressuring Department of Homeland Security officials on behalf of foreign investors in his home state of Nevada sparked one investigation and calls for another.
On Thursday, the nonprofit government watchdog Cause of Action called for a review by the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section of allegations that a top Homeland Security official improperly intervened on behalf of friends and political associates of Reid, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Anthony Rodham, brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The review by Justice Department's top anti-public corruption staff is needed, according to Cause of Action Executive Director Daniel Epstein, because "federal employees were pressured to make decisions that financially or politically benefited certain applicants and left many visa applicants feeling deprived of a fair process from their government."
Epstein told Raymond Hulser, the acting chief of the Public Integrity Section, in a letter Thursday that there is evidence "of unlawful political activity [and] possible coercion and fraud related to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program."
The EB-5 program grants visas to foreigners who agree to invest at least $500,000 in U.S. businesses located in areas of high unemployment. Those foreigners are then allowed to contribute to political American campaigns.
Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth issued a report describing in detail actions by then-director of the immigration services agency Alexander Mayorkas that "created an appearance of favoritism and special access." Mayorkas is now deputy secretary of the Homeland Security department.
Roth's report was the focus of a Thursday hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Roth said Mayorkas intervened at the request of Reid seeking "expedited review of investor petitions involved in funding a Las Vegas hotel and casino, notwithstanding the career staff's original decision not to do so." The inspector general said, "Mayorkas pressured staff to expedite the review. He also took the extraordinary step of requiring staff to brief Senator Reid's staff on a weekly basis for several months."
Mayorkas also mounted an "unprecedented" intervention in the denial of an EB-5 application for funding of a firm "to manufacture electric cars through investments in a company in which Terry McAuliffe was the board chairman." The inspector general said that "because of the political prominence of the individuals involved, as well as USCIS' traditional deference to its administrative appeals process, staff perceived it as politically motivated."
Roth further reported that "Mayorkas created a hand-picked 'deference review board' that reversed a series of decisions by the LA Films center to reject applications linked to film projects of Sony and Time Warner. 'This board did not previously exist and was never used again after it voted to reverse the adjudicators' proposed denials. Remarkably, there is no record of the proceedings of this board."
Rodham was involved with the electric car project headed by McAuliffe, a long-time Clinton fundraiser, who left the firm after declaring his candidacy for governor of Virginia. McAuliffe's role in the project and allegations of improper political influence as a result of the "cash-for-visas" program was first reported in April 2013 by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.
Roth told the Homeland Security committee that he does not believe Mayorkas' actions were illegal but they did violate federal ethics regulations. Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the inspector general's report was "extremely concerning" and suggested that further hearings may be coming.
Epstein told Hulser that Cause of Action raised concerns to Congress about the roles of Reid and McAuliffe in letters to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2013.
The Senate panel concluded there was no evidence of wrong-doing by Reid, but Epstein said Roth's report makes clear that the ethics committee's review was insufficient. Reid's intervention via Mayorkas was prohibited by Senate rules, the Administrative Procedures Act, the Sunshine in Government Act and the Senate's historical precedents, according to Epstein.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the former McAuliffe firm's actions, Epstein said.
If the Public Integrity Section finds sufficient evidence to consider prosecution, it would be up to U.S. attorneys in Virginia and Nevada to decide whether to seek a federal indictment.
McAuliffe has declined to comment on the allegations contained in the inspector general's report. A spokesman for Reid told the Washington Examiner earlier this week that the Senate Minority Leader's actions did not violate Senate rules or federal laws.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.Sent from my iPhone
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