At the U.S. Department of Justice, he was received by President Donald Trump’s close confidant, prosecutor Ed Martin. The talks focused on the systematic abuse of the judiciary to suppress the opposition in Germany and the EU, as well as the AfD’s planned establishment of corresponding parliamentary inquiry committees at both levels.
The Trump administration also pledged to scrutinize alleged money-laundering and corruption structures involving international NGOs in Europe.
The focus is on financial flows to OCCRP as well as Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, DAI, and Mercy Corps, which received around half a billion euros in EU funds within just a few years.
In meetings with leading Republican politicians, such as Kari Lake, the emphasis was on the suppression of freedom of speech in Germany. With Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, Bystron discussed political persecution of opposition forces, using the case of Naomi Seibt as an example; she has applied for asylum in the United States.
Petr Bystron, European policy spokesman for the ESN group and a member of the AFET committee, stated:
“Our strategic partners have made it unmistakably clear: Americans will not support countries in which the opposition is suppressed and freedom of speech is trampled underfoot.”
