Donald Trump, Meet Bill Browder - WSJ Editorial
Vladimir Putin knows what he wants from Donald Trump, and one priority is help in silencing businessman and human-rights advocate Bill Browder. Mr. Browder has been on Moscow’s enemies list since he lobbied Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act in 2012. The law is named for Mr. Browder’s late lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed a $230 million fraud embarrassing to the Kremlin, was arrested on trumped-up charges, and died from torture and neglect in a Moscow detention center at age 37.
The Magnitsky Act, versions of which have also passed in Britain, Canada and the Baltic states, allows for sanctions and travel restrictions on human-rights violators. The U.S. has sanctioned 51 Russians under the law. The Kremlin has been hounding Mr. Browder for years, lodging “red notice” requests with Interpol for his arrest and filing frivolous lawsuits in U.S. and British courts.
The news this week is that Mr. Putin complained about Mr. Browder in Helsinki at his news conference with Mr. Trump. The Russian accused Mr. Browder of tax fraud and “a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton, ” the latter of which looks like an unsubtle attempt to seduce Mr. Trump to help him.
The next day Russia’s prosecutor general said Moscow wants to question several U.S. officials allegedly involved with Mr. Browder, including former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. Asked about that Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said “the President’s going to meet with his team and we’ll let you know when we have an announcement on that.” What?
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Mr. Trump should know that critics of the Kremlin often end up dead, and Mr. Browder is undoubtedly a target. Before he cuddles with the bear again, Mr. Trump ought to say publicly that Mr. Putin will get no help from the U.S. against Mr. Browder. And that if anything happens to Mr. Browder—if he should fall from a bridge, or be shot as he gets out of a car—the world is going to blame Vladimir Putin.
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