Why Won't Biden's DOJ Make Al Jazeera Register as a Foreign Agent?
Foot-dragging on FARA enforcement with respect to the Qatar-backed network illustrates the hysteria over foreign influence is farcical -- and part of a cynical and corrupting political agenda
Al Jazeera Is A Foreign Agent For Qatar, So Why Isn’t Biden Making It Register As One?
Is Washington genuinely concerned about foreign influence threats to America, or is it more concerned about politics — either selectively pursuing claims of such threats or more perversely weaponizing those claims to target domestic foes?
The Biden Justice Department’s seeming refusal to enforce the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) and stonewalling of those who would dare ask why — at least when it comes to its deference to one Middle Eastern media outlet — suggests the prevalence of politics in its work.
In September 2020, the Trump DOJ informed AJ+, Al Jazeera’s left-wing, millennial-targeting, social-media-focused news platform, that it was required to register as a foreign agent. That’s because by money, management, and messaging, AJ+ is backed by Qatar.
Now more than three years later neither AJ+ nor any of Al Jazeera’s affiliates have registered as foreign agents. The Justice Department has stonewalled both Congress and government watchdog Empower Oversight about its non-enforcement of FARA, and non-responsiveness to oversight efforts regarding its non-enforcement of FARA.
Now it appears this dispute is coming to a head.
I’ve got the story in a new piece at The Federalist.