Mike Benz

And they are acting as an instrument of statecraft to get money from our paychecks to do international work to train foreign journalists and foreign ministers – how to censor or stop the spread of information the State Department doesn't like. But now their margins are padded by that.

And they are acting as an instrument of statecraft to get money from our paychecks to do international work to train foreign journalists and foreign ministers – how to censor or stop the spread of information the State Department doesn't like. But now their margins are padded by that.

And they are acting as an instrument of statecraft to get money from our paychecks to do international work to train foreign journalists and foreign ministers – how to censor or stop the spread of information the State Department doesn't like. But now their margins are padded by that.

Right. Well, I'll tell you what we did in the financing space. And I remember being a corporate lawyer and watching that evolve and play out. Yeah. We had things like, you know, these anti, we had anti terrorist financing, you know, OFAC style laws that prevented laundering, you know, uh, and, uh,

Right. Well, I'll tell you what we did in the financing space. And I remember being a corporate lawyer and watching that evolve and play out. Yeah. We had things like, you know, these anti, we had anti terrorist financing, you know, OFAC style laws that prevented laundering, you know, uh, and, uh,

Right. Well, I'll tell you what we did in the financing space. And I remember being a corporate lawyer and watching that evolve and play out. Yeah. We had things like, you know, these anti, we had anti terrorist financing, you know, OFAC style laws that prevented laundering, you know, uh, and, uh,

Even if you could technically do it, you didn't want to risk it because there were criminal penalties for doing it and there were financial penalties. And so in something like this, imagine if the grantees had to pay treble damages in the amount of their grant if they tripped one of those foreign domestic firewalls.

Even if you could technically do it, you didn't want to risk it because there were criminal penalties for doing it and there were financial penalties. And so in something like this, imagine if the grantees had to pay treble damages in the amount of their grant if they tripped one of those foreign domestic firewalls.

Even if you could technically do it, you didn't want to risk it because there were criminal penalties for doing it and there were financial penalties. And so in something like this, imagine if the grantees had to pay treble damages in the amount of their grant if they tripped one of those foreign domestic firewalls.

If their grant was for $30 million and they have to pay – they're liable for up to $90 million, if a U.S. court finds that they violated the USAID Smith-Munt Act – I mean, this is something that Congress could put –

If their grant was for $30 million and they have to pay – they're liable for up to $90 million, if a U.S. court finds that they violated the USAID Smith-Munt Act – I mean, this is something that Congress could put –

If their grant was for $30 million and they have to pay – they're liable for up to $90 million, if a U.S. court finds that they violated the USAID Smith-Munt Act – I mean, this is something that Congress could put –

in you know put in today i mean you could you could add criminal penalties but you need right now there's no penalty whatsoever the only penalty is that it is that people might find out and it might cause a political scandal and it might make the usa grant coordinator um less likely to give you the next grant in the future where's the clawback where's the where's the the restitution damages uh

in you know put in today i mean you could you could add criminal penalties but you need right now there's no penalty whatsoever the only penalty is that it is that people might find out and it might cause a political scandal and it might make the usa grant coordinator um less likely to give you the next grant in the future where's the clawback where's the where's the the restitution damages uh

in you know put in today i mean you could you could add criminal penalties but you need right now there's no penalty whatsoever the only penalty is that it is that people might find out and it might cause a political scandal and it might make the usa grant coordinator um less likely to give you the next grant in the future where's the clawback where's the where's the the restitution damages uh

People shouldn't maybe even be able to sue the U.S. government body administering the grant for for failing to do oversight of the NGO receiving that money. You might create a cause, a private cause of action against the State Department or whatever new form USAID costs that can be done legislatively in the message that I mean, first of all, that would that would go.

People shouldn't maybe even be able to sue the U.S. government body administering the grant for for failing to do oversight of the NGO receiving that money. You might create a cause, a private cause of action against the State Department or whatever new form USAID costs that can be done legislatively in the message that I mean, first of all, that would that would go.

People shouldn't maybe even be able to sue the U.S. government body administering the grant for for failing to do oversight of the NGO receiving that money. You might create a cause, a private cause of action against the State Department or whatever new form USAID costs that can be done legislatively in the message that I mean, first of all, that would that would go.

A huge distance to being able to deal with this problem because you're going to have this problem, whether USAID exists as an outside as an independent agency or whether the State Department just inherits a USAID herpes infection and just lives with it inside the agency.

A huge distance to being able to deal with this problem because you're going to have this problem, whether USAID exists as an outside as an independent agency or whether the State Department just inherits a USAID herpes infection and just lives with it inside the agency.