Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), a Democrat who has consistently opposed measures to make America energy independent again, took thousands in donations from a lobbyist for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Gas prices surged 22 percent in the last two weeks to hit the most expensive ever recorded, $4.43 per gallon, which exceeded the record from July 2008, the prior all-time high, by 32 cents per gallon. So the discovery of Malinowski accepting thousands in donations from a Russian pipeline lobbyist could have severe repercussions for the vulnerable Democrat, who has opposed American energy independence.
As Breitbart News reported in November, “Under former President Donald Trump, the United States was energy independent for the first time since 1957 and no longer relied on foreign energy sources.”
Vincent Roberti is a former Democrat Connecticut state representative who runs Roberti Global, a firm that has been paid $8.5 million for its Nord Stream 2 lobbying work, according to lobbying disclosure records. He also has held “honorary” titles in the Democrat campaign arms of the House and Senate.
Simultaneously holding titles with the campaign arm and lobbying for Nord Stream 2, he gave Malinowski $8,600 in campaign contribution, according to FEC filings. In fact, $5,800 of the campaign contributions — the maximum legal limit — were from February 2021, only months before President Joe Biden waived sanctions on the company behind the pipeline.
The Russian pipeline runs counter to American energy independence by connecting Russian oil to European markets. This would reduce American energy exports — and is one of the reasons the Russians have invaded Ukraine, according to the Ukrainians. Former President Donald Trump, for his entire administration, blocked the Russian pipeline, but Biden opened it up in his first year in office — and now seems to be paying the consequences for doing so.
As for opposing American energy independence, Malinowski has not only opposed the Keystone Pipeline, drilling on federal lands, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and expanding natural gas, but has also refused to prevent a ban on fracking, and has stood by Biden 98 percent of the time with his votes.
The congressman voted for the Democrats’ reconciliation package last year, which targeted the oil, natural gas, and refining industries in the United States. Some of his vulnerable Democrat colleagues even signed a letter to Democrat leadership acknowledging that some of the provisions in the reconciliation package, if passed, had the “potential to cost thousands of jobs, stifle economic recovery, increase energy costs for all Americans, strengthen our adversaries, and ultimately impede the transition to a lower-carbon future.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.