{"id":454259,"date":"2022-05-28T19:19:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T16:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/queens-rep-gregory-meeks-had-cozy-connection-with-russia\/"},"modified":"2022-05-28T19:19:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T16:19:34","slug":"queens-rep-gregory-meeks-had-cozy-connection-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/queens-rep-gregory-meeks-had-cozy-connection-with-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"#Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks had cozy connection with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29f41116915\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a29f41116915\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/queens-rep-gregory-meeks-had-cozy-connection-with-russia\/#%E2%80%9CQueens_Rep_Gregory_Meeks_had_cozy_connection_with_Russia%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks had cozy connection with Russia&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CQueens_Rep_Gregory_Meeks_had_cozy_connection_with_Russia%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks had cozy connection with Russia&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Queens Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks\u2019 recent <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>s to Ukraine are an about-face for the former Russia-loving pol who once referred to Vladimir Putin\u2019s government as \u201can important allied relationship\u201d and \u201cstrategic partner\u201d for the US<\/p>\n<p>Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, founded the House\u2019s Russia Caucus, along with disgraced former Staten Island pol Michael Grimm, once lobbied hard to remove impediments to trade with the country.<\/p>\n<p>And Meeks\u2019 sister, Janella Meeks, works for Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment,  a company once tied to Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, a Putin confidant who used to own the New Jersey Nets. Janella Meeks is deputy director of government and public affairs for the company, according to her <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/janella-r-meeks-a757195\/\">LinkedIn profile.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unlike dozens of other Russian billionaires close to Putin, Prokhorov has not been sanctioned by the US or Europe. He sold the team and Barclay\u2019s arena, pocketing more than a $2 billion in the deals, in 2019. The sale of the NBA franchise was allegedly at the behest of Putin, The Post recently revealed.<\/p>\n<p>But Meeks has recently embraced Ukraine\u2019s fight against Putin, accompanying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on an official Congressional delegation visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month. <\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>We assured him of the United States and Congress\u2019 unwavering and bipartisan support for Ukraine\u2019s defense,\u201d said Meeks in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.house.gov\/2022\/5\/chairman-meeks-issues-statement-on-codel-to-ukraine-and-poland\">a statement <\/a>earlier this month. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-07.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Meeks alongside Rep. Michael McCaul from Texas after a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022. \" class=\"wp-image-22450790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-07.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Meeks alongside Rep. Michael McCaul from Texas after a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-04-1.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Meeks once lobbied hard to remove trade restrictions with Russia.\" class=\"wp-image-22450793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-04-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-04-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-04-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Meeks once lobbied hard to remove trade restrictions with Russia.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But despite Meeks\u2019 recent anti-Putin overtures, some critics still question his ties to the Russians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things that gives Putin confidence is knowing he has a powerful sympathizer in the chairman of the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks,\u201d said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center, a Virginia-based watchdog. \u201cIt\u2019s a mystery why Congressman Meeks would go so far  to push legislation that benefited Russian interests, through the Russia Caucus, only to quietly distance himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meeks was so enamored of Russia that he once chastised Republican Sen. Mitt Romney when he made disparaging comments about the country during the 2012 presidential race.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-01.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Meeks looks on as Nancy Pelosi signs the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022.\" class=\"wp-image-22450794\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-01.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Meeks looks on as Nancy Pelosi signs the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhat \u2026 Romney fails  to recognize is that complex relationships among allies can withstand divergent policies even on matters of grave importance,\u201d said Meeks in a statement posted to his web site in July 2012 that has since been removed. \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned that uninformed statements like the ones made by presidential candidate Romney, describing Russia as our number one foe or number one adversary, do nothing to serve US interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before the Ukraine war, Meeks spearheaded the effort to serve Russia\u2019s interests in the US. He formed the US-Russia Economic Relations Caucus in 2011 to support Russia\u2019s bid for World Trade Organization membership. He and Grimm, who served eight months in prison for tax evasion in 2015, also lobbied Congress to end the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the  1974 Trade Act which restricted trade with Communist bloc countries.  President Obama repealed the amendment a year later, in December 2012, but angered Russia by including the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2017\/07\/14\/537247838\/what-really-irritates-vladimir-putin-the-magnitsky-act\">Magnitsky Act, <\/a>which imposes sanctions on Russian officials who engage in human rights abuses.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, the Russia Caucus, which had hosted Russian visitors to Washington DC and presentations by Russian officials, was winding down, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2015\/01\/putins-washington-113894\/\">according to Politico.<\/a> <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-03.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Volodymyr Zelensky meets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in April 2022.\" class=\"wp-image-22450795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-03.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Volodymyr Zelensky meets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in April 2022.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAs with all caucuses that Representative\u00a0Meeks\u00a0has chaired or been a member of, the purpose of the Russia caucus was to promote US interests,\u201d said a spokesman for the Foreign Relations Committee. \u201cThe caucus was created when the United States sought to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia, as required by the WTO\u2019s rules once Russia\u2019s was accepted into the international economic organization. At the same time, Representative\u00a0Meeks\u00a0was also advocating for the Magnitsky Act to impose consequences on Russia for human rights violations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Meeks and Grimm were named among the most corrupt members of Congress, by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, beginning in 2011. The government watchdog demanded a federal investigation of the congressman after he accepted tens of thousands in loans from political benefactors to purchase his $830,000 home in Queens.  They also slammed Meeks for his ties to dubious charities, including a Queens non-profit that raised money for Hurricane Katrina victims but paid out only a fraction of the donations it received.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/28\/queens-rep-gregory-meeks-had-cozy-connection-with-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks had cozy connection with Russia&#8221; Queens Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks\u2019 recent trips to Ukraine are an about-face for the former Russia-loving pol who once referred to Vladimir Putin\u2019s government as \u201can important allied relationship\u201d and \u201cstrategic partner\u201d for the US Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, founded the House\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":454260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/gregory-meeks-comp.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[129702,102644,11247,4975,70868,126128,70922],"class_list":["post-454259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-28-22","tag-gregory-meeks","tag-queens","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-us-house-of-representatives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}