US Congress members are not for sale, says Attorney General

Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall has rejected claims that the government has had any hand in the recent information disseminated by US Congressman Carlos Gimenez and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar.

Between Monday and Tuesday, the congress members registered concern against presidential hopeful Azruddin Mohamed, who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for illicit activities including gold smuggling. They insisted via X (formerly Twitter) that Mohamed’s aim to become Guyana’s head of state poses a threat to the US/Guyana relationship, as they openly accused him of having ties to the controversial Nicholas Maduro regime of Venezuela.

While no details as to whether the government has hired a US firm to lobby its interest in Washington were expressed, Attorney General Nandlall, during his Issues in the News programme on Tuesday, dismissed claims that the congress members’ tweets stemmed from information provided by the government. He accused some media houses of peddling this narrative.

“Are they suggesting that the US Congressmen and women are a bunch of rubber stamps, that these people have no integrity, that they have no self-respect; that they will just prostitute their position as members of Congress and simply publish something somebody hands them in their hand and says tweet this to Guyana and look there is an envelope of money for you here?”

Nandlall expressed surprise that persons would regard the US Congress and its members in such low regard. He noted also that instead of concentrating on the content of the Congress members’ tweets, persons were more concerned about the government reportedly hiring a lobbying firm to influence the congress members’ tweets against Mohamed. He stated, however, that US Congress members are not so easily swayed.

“You can’t hand an American Congressman a piece of paper and say tweet this and he will tweet it. It must be something that is part of their policy that they are aware of; that they have investigated and that is their position.”

The Attorney General reminded that for some time, US executives, including President Donald Trump, have used X to state important positions and policies of the US government. He said this social media platform has become an acceptable form of disseminating important policies and positions on important matters. Additionally, knowing the global impact of statements from such high-level US personages, Nandlall insisted that statements such as the ones made against Mohamed will not be done uninformed and randomly by Congress members.