Trump flips script on left, maneuvers to use foreign influence law against the them

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump is turning foreign-influence laws that once ensnared figures in his own orbit toward left-wing activist networks accused of benefiting from overseas money and support. Once seldom enforced criminally, FARA became a more prominent tool at the DOJ after 2016, including in cases involving several figures in Trump’s orbit as well as some prominent Democrats. Now, legal experts say that FARA and other laws dealing with foreign influence are emerging as a potential weapon in Trump's campaign against left-wing activist networks. "Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Biden administration went overboard and tried to use FARA as a political weapon against allies and supporters of President Trump instead of concentrating on real national security threats and those acting on behalf of foreign governments and principals without disclosing it as required by the law," Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, told Fox News Digital. TRUMP, DEMOCRATS LOCKED IN ENDLESS CYCLES OF PAYBACK AFTER COMEY INDICTMENT AND TARGETING PRESIDENT'S ENEMIES' FARA requires people acting in the United States on behalf of foreign governments or political parties to disclose their relationships, activities and funding to the Justice Department. While the law has been on the books for decades, criminal prosecutions related to it have become more common from 2016 onwards, engendering resentment among conservatives who feel they were unfairly targeted by the Justice Department. "Prior to the Mueller gang and the deep state using it against Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, FARA was rarely, if ever used for criminal purposes," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told Fox News Digital. "It was seen as a paperwork issue ... anti-Trump fanaticism turned it into a weapon to put people in jail." FARA prosecutions were relatively rare prior to the first Trump administration, with only seven criminal ca…