DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An official in US President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and at least one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Americans before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and saw its members set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader.
Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump’s transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a “cult-like” terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.
In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo, transportation Secretary-designate Elaine Chao testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. (AP Photo/Zach Gibson, File)
More than two dozen former US officials, both Republican and Democratic, have spoken before the MEK, including former House Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, but others have not.
While nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they raise questions about what influence the exiles may have in the new administration.
Already, a group of former US officials, including Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump last month encouraging him to “establish a dialogue” with the MEK’s political arm. With Trump’s ban on Iranians entering the US, his administration’s call this week to put Iran “on notice” and the imposition of new sanctions on Friday, the exile group may find his administration more welcoming than any before.
In this Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 file photo, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani walks under a photo of Iranian opposition leader Massoud Rajavi as he takes the podium to speak at a protest of Iranian then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United Nations, in New York. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
— AP
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