Elliott Abrams, who was twice convicted of lying to Congress, is set to join the Biden administration. Abrams has worked with several Presidents from both sides of the political aisle and was heavily involved in George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. He pleaded guilty to two charges of providing false testimony to Congress in 1991 but was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
Abrams admitted to lying to Congress in 1986 when he withheld information about the secretive Contra supply network and raising $10 million for the anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra scandal involved the secret sale of weapons to Iran – the funding for which was used to support Nicaraguan rebel groups.
President Trump blocked Abrams from joining his administration in 2017, however, he made his way through the door via Mike Pompeo as a special envoy responsible for Venezuela. After January 6, 2021, Abrams turned against Trump and blamed him for the riots that took place at the Capitol buildings. “In 2016, I said Donald Trump was not fit to be president, and my view on that never wavered,” he said.
The nomination of Abrams to the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy was made by Republicans, according to the White House. “It’s standard for Republican leadership to put nominees forward for these boards and commissions, along with President Biden’s own nominees,” an official said.
There are four vacancies on the committee and appointees will need to be approved by the Senate.
Left-leaning commentators describe Mr. Abrams as “knee-deep in human rights atrocities” and contemptuous of leftist regimes. He believed the end of the Soviet Union was one of America’s greatest accomplishments and is said to have attempted to engineer a coup in Venezuela aimed at removing Hugo Chavez from power. He was also a fierce critic of Cuban leader Fidel Castro who he described as “barbaric” and “oppressive.” He said Cubans who admired the communist dictator needed to remove their “rose-tinted glasses.”
