Romania’s Dragnea Faces New Trial Over Trump Inauguration Lobby

Former Romanian Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea, who de facto ran the country from the side from January 2017 until his imprisonment in May 2019, was on Monday sent to trial by anti-corruption prosecutors, charged with influence peddling in order to secure his presence at former US president Donald Trump's inauguration.

Prosecutors say that Dragnea, who is already serving a three-and-a-half year prison term for corruption, used his power as a party boss to offer favours to a businessman who then ensured him access to the ceremony, held in Washington on January 20, 2017.

"Nicolae-Liviu Dragnea allegedly peddled, in favour of the Romanian businessman, the influence he had over the prime minister and other members of the Romanian government, promising that he would ensure they protected his business interests in the military and intelligence fields," the National Anti-corruption Directorate, DNA, said on Monday.

The arrangement to grant Dragnea access to the US event involved the vice president of the inauguration committee and cost some 250,000 US dollars. The Romanian businessman in question, Gheorghe Dumitrescu, has also been sent to trial alongside Drangea.

Dragnea's political career ended abruptly on May 27, 2019, when he was convicted of the fictitious employment as public servants of two Social Democratic Party employees in the southern county where he built his political career. He was then sentenced to three-and-half years in jail.

Following his party's victory in the December 2016 election, Dragnea became Romania's de facto prime minister, a position he could not formally assume due to a previous conviction. 

In power, he championed justice system changes that included softening some of the laws...