Following the resounding defeat of Trump’s Hungarian ally Viktor Orbán, newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar made a stunning allegation about the outgoing administration: Orbán’s allies “made payments” to CPAC. And according to Ja’han Jones writing for MS.NOW, Magyar further asserted that the payments constituted a crime.
In the wake of authoritarian Viktor Orbán’s political defeat over the weekend, Hungary’s newly elected prime minister, Péter Magyar, is looking to sever his government’s financial ties to the influential pro-Trump activist group the Conservative Political Action Conference.
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At a press conference on Monday, Magyar said Orbán’s government had given government funds to CPAC and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a Hungarian residential college that Orbán critics have described as ‘an institution designed to breed right-wing intellectuals,’ according to The New York Times. In condemning the alleged payments, Magyar called for investigations and said that while CPAC is welcome in Hungary, the government would no longer pay the group.
Ja’han Jones for MS.NOW
Severing financial ties with CPAC—but still welcoming them back—is notable for a number of reasons (is Magyar setting a trap of some kind? or simply offering a bipartisan olive branch?), but the functional impact is no less stunning: the days of Orbán scheming with Putin’s Russia and U.S. conservatives are over. At least for now:
In the other direction, there’s been reporting on efforts by Trump officials, like State Department undersecretary Sarah Rogers, to name one, to fund far-right groups in Hungary and elsewhere. Rogers met last November with members of an Orbán-backed Hungarian propaganda group that was connected to CPAC Hungary.
Ja’han Jones for MS.NOW
TrumpFile readers may recall it was at an Orbán-linked event called National Conservatism Conference that J.D. Vance insisted U.S. universities should be targeted and brought to heel. Vance even name-checked Mr. Orbán in his keynote speech:
“You know, the closest that conservatives have ever gotten to successfully dealing with left-wing domination of universities is Viktor Orbán’s approach in Hungary,” Vance said at the time. “I think his way has to be the model for us: not to eliminate universities, but to give the a choice between survival or taking a much less biased approach to teaching.”
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
If Magyar’s much-ballyhooed “anti-corruption probe” actually turns up financial malfeasance (which seems like a near-certainty given the players’ documented fondness for corruption elsewhere), the Josh Hawleys and the Marco Rubios and all other right-wing “luminaries” might regret hitching their wagon to what is, charitably, a dodgy financial machinery.
I’d be remiss not also mention that Magyar’s comments came on April 13, literally the day after he was declared the winner. That could become important down the line since whiny right-wingers will find even the smallest thread to claim victimhood. In other words, his announcement—although apparently rooted in evidence—could be perceived as political in nature coming so quickly after the election.
What’s become clear with this fledgling scandal is the American “Conservative” “Movement” (in quotes because it’s just a ragtag bunch of whiny babies) is *the* preferred entry to point for foreign money in search of political influence in America. Much like the NRA and illegal coordination with Trump’s “campaign” in 2016: if even a portion of their scheme runs afoul of U.S. election laws, it gives even more urgency for adults to retake gavels this November and launch investigations.
The adverts for Democrats for U.S. midterms write themselves. Politically smart to step on this frayed nerve and investigate it to ground.
In my post about Russian and Hungarian officials getting caught on intercepts, here’s an excerpt from my Author Footnote:
Hungarian taxpayers picked up the tab for at least $3+ million on 2024 CPAC alone—which is a “conservative” (pun intended) estimate. Matt Schlapp‘s American Conservative Union essentially got a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal subsidized by Orbán’s state apparatus. And it still didn’t save him.
I’ll bet a fiver that saner heads inside Hungary will be coming for a refund.
I think a “refund” is the bare minimum here since this could have other, ya know, consequences for officials in Hungary and potentially in America as well.
