KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in 2017 was brokered by fugitive Low Taek Jho, court documents suggest.
Yesterday, former Trump campaign financier Elliot Broidy was charged for acting as “an agent for a foreign principal”, without approval from the US government.
The foreign principal was named in the charge documents released yesterday as “Foreign National A” – suspected to be Low, better known as Jho Low.
Broidy was identified as the agent and allegedly paid by Low a total of US$8 million (RM33 million) to get US officials to drop investigations and prosecutions into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, as well as setting up a golf meeting between Trump and Najib.
The charge documents heavily referred to text messages between Broidy, his associates and senior US government officials regarding the scheduled golf meeting as well as complaints by Low.
In June 2017, Broidy met with Trump to discuss the potential of the US president meeting a “Malaysian Prime Minister A”, court documents show.
A text from Broidy to a White House senior official, referred to as Person E, alludes to Trump agreeing to meet Najib over golf.
“Hi (Person E), as I mentioned POTUS agreed to play a round of golf in DC or Bedminster in late July or early August with (Malaysian Prime Minister A). Thank you very much for getting back to me with the date,” the text said.
Person E replied on July 5 that the meeting would be coordinated and negotiated by the US National Security Council (NSC). The same person also informed Broidy that the NSC would be “working directly with the Malaysians” with regards to setting up a meeting date.
In late July, replies from Broidy to Person E, however, alluded to the Malaysian officials having no contact from the NSC.
“Just checked again, Their Amb to US and Foreign Minister have heard nothing. Please check asap. Best Elliot,” read the text from Broidy to Person D (a former Trump campaign aide).
On July 29, an associate of Broidy named Nickie Lum Davis, who pled guilty to similar federal charges this year, texted Broidy about the meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister A and Trump.
“They were told 12 sept is mtg. That’s day that un general assembly stars- it’s a Tuesday???? No golf??”
It is believed this conversation was referring to Trump’s meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister A coinciding with the start of the 2017 United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Low’s increasing angst was a recurring theme in the conversations between Davis and Broidy.
“(Person E) needs to give u this date now and ask him for update on other thing. We look impotent,” read one of the text exchanges, believed to be Low expressing urgency on said meeting.
The charge sheet reads: “Following Broidy’s repeated efforts to schedule a golf game between the President and Malaysian Prime Minister A, Malaysian Prime Minister A met with the President at the White House on, or about September 12, 2017.
“Although Broidy contacted high-ranking officials in the Administration to arrange a golf meeting between the President and Malaysian Prime Minister A, in addition to the official meeting, no golf game between Malaysian Prime Minister A and the President took place.” – The Vibes, October 10, 2020
