Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Releases Final Minority Staff Report in Foreign Influence Probe

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), released a staff report today revealing the Subcommittee’s findings in its inquiry into foreign influence in the United States. PSI began its probe in June 2023 to better understand the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s (the PIF) attempts to control the game of golf in the United States via the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger. Since then, the Subcommittee’s inquiry expanded to shine a light on the Saudi Arabian government’s attempts to gain power and influence in the United States through the PIF’s rapidly increasing U.S. commercial investments. 

Among its key findings, PSI’s investigation uncovered that U.S. defenses are inadequate to protect against increasingly sophisticated foreign influence efforts by Saudi Arabia and other malign actors and exposed loopholes within the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) that allow foreign governments to escape accountability.

“My PSI investigation is a call to action—supporting strong  reforms for disclosure by foreign actors,” said Blumenthal. “Our report reveals how present laws may enable foreign influence without transparency. Very simply, our present defenses do not protect against increasingly sophisticated threats. While the Trump Administration rolls back deterrents against foreign influence and seeks investments from our adversaries, I am calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to immediately step up enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and support my Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency Act.”

Blumenthal’s report comes as the Trump Administration is actively diminishing the U.S. government’s efforts to combat foreign influence, including limiting charges for FARA violations and gutting departments tasked with investigating foreign influence.

To protect against increasingly sophisticated threats, Blumenthal is urging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to use tools at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) disposal to enforce FARA. Blumenthal has also introduced the Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency Act to fix loopholes within FARA and to provide DOJ with additional means to combat foreign influence. The full text of Blumenthal’s letter to Bondi referring PSI’s findings and recommendations to the Trump Administration is available here. The full text of Blumenthal’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency Act is available here.

The full text of PSI’s report is available here. A summary of the report’s key findings is below:

Foreign influence efforts are increasingly sophisticated, and U.S. defenses are inadequate.

Foreign influence efforts by Saudi Arabia and similar malign actors are growing in scope, sophistication, and reach. Expert testimony provided to the Subcommittee pointed to wide-ranging Saudi commercial investment efforts and an “arms race” among authoritarian regimes to finance and influence institutions in the United States.

Malign foreign actors will go to great lengths to avoid disclosures about their U.S. activities.

As part of the Subcommittee’s inquiry into the PIF’s increasing commercial investments, PSI sought records and testimony from the PIF’s primary U.S.-based consultants. The Saudi Arabian government worked to thwart the Subcommittee’s at every turn. In fact, the PIF took the unprecedented action of suing its U.S.-based consultants in Saudi Arabian Administrative Court to prevent their compliance with a U.S. Congressional subpoena.

The “commercial exception” to FARA permits too much activity to escape registration.

The current “commercial exemption” to FARA permits agents of foreign principals to avoid registration if the foreign influence is intertwined with commercial investment. Saudi Arabia is not the only country to use commercial investment (and FARA’s current inadequacy) in this manner.

Sportswashing has taken on an increasingly prominent place in foreign influence efforts.

The PIF’s investment in the PGA Tour does not make business sense unless it is an effort to buy long-term influence. This transaction is merely one piece in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to use sports to increase its influence and build its global reputation.

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