Stay Updated on Developing Stories

Washington Post: Justice Department preparing to charge former Trump inaugural fundraiser Elliot Broidy

Washington(CNN) The Justice Department is preparing to charge former Donald Trump inaugural fundraiser Elliot Broidy related to wrongful foreign lobbying allegations, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Post reported that Broidy's possible charges stem from his efforts to convince senior Trump administration officials to abandon a corruption probe into the Malaysian government and to press for an exiled Chinese dissident to be extradited.

Broidy has been in talks with the Justice Department and could negotiate a plea deal, according to the paper. Prosecutors have been investigating Broidy for at least two years, looking into whether the Los Angeles private investor sought to sell his influence with the Trump administration.

Representatives of Broidy did not respond to CNN's requests for comment on Tuesday. The White House declined to comment on the record about the report, and a message left with the Justice Department was not immediately returned.

The news comes after the Justice Department procured a guilty plea from Nickie Mali Lum Davis, who the Post said is a business associate of Broidy. She is a Hollywood producer and fundraiser who is identified as having "specifically agreed to facilitate Person B's lobbying of the President of the United States ("the President"), his Administration, and the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") to drop the investigation" of a foreign national for his role in a Malaysian corruption investigation.

Person B is characterized in the plea as having "served as Deputy Finance Chair of a national political committee from approximately April 2016 to April 2018" who then "maintained access to, and contact with, high-ranking officials in the Administration of the President, including the President."

Broidy served as a finance vice chair of Trump's inaugural committee and the deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee until April 2018, when he resigned following reports that he had paid $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who alleged Broidy had impregnated her. Broidy acknowledged the relationship at the time.

People familiar with the matter confirmed to the Post that Person B was Broidy. Prosecutors told a judge during a hearing Monday that they might file charges against other defendants, the Post reported.

Broidy has repeatedly denied charges against him. He told The New York Times in 2018 that "this whole narrative is a fabrication driven by hackers who want to undermine me."

CNN's Katelyn Polantz and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
Outbrain