Before the Ukraine war, Meeks spearheaded the effort to serve Russia’s interests in the US. He formed the US-Russia Economic Relations Caucus in 2011 to support Russia’s bid for World Trade Organization membership. He and Grimm, who served eight months in prison for tax evasion in 2015, also lobbied Congress to end the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 Trade Act which restricted trade with Communist bloc countries. President Obama repealed the amendment a year later, in December 2012, but angered Russia by including the Magnitsky Act, which imposes sanctions on Russian officials who engage in human rights abuses. Two years later, in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, the Russia Caucus, which had hosted Russian visitors to Washington DC and presentations by Russian officials, was winding down, according to Politico. “As with all caucuses that Representative Meeks has chaired or been a member of, the purpose of the Russia caucus was to promote US interests,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Relations Committee. “The caucus was created when the United States sought to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia, as required by the WTO’s rules once Russia’s was accepted into the international economic organization. At the same time, Representative Meeks was also advocating for the Magnitsky Act to impose consequences on Russia for human rights violations.”
Both Meeks and Grimm were named among the most corrupt members of Congress, by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, beginning in 2011. The government watchdog demanded a federal investigation of the congressman after he accepted tens of thousands in loans from political benefactors to purchase his $830,000 home in Queens. They also slammed Meeks for his ties to dubious charities, including a Queens non-profit that raised money for Hurricane Katrina victims but paid out only a fraction of the donations it received.
[image] Meeks once lobbied hard to remove trade restrictions with Russia. AP