The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Budapest, David Pressman, decided on his parting gift for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán: Antal Rogán, with the head of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, has been placed on the U.S. sanctions list.
Rogán was designated according to “Executive Order (EO) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world,” reads the official statement on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s site.
Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith stated, “Corruption undermines a country’s governing institutions and limits its economic development, providing short-sighted gain to a select few while depriving future generations of longer-term benefit.”
The treasury official added, “The United States will not hesitate to hold accountable individuals, like Rogan, who use the power of their office to illicitly enrich themselves and their cronies at the expense of their country and their fellow citizens.”
The outcry from Orbán allies has been immediate and loud, with many seeing this as mere political revenge from an ambassador on the ground who came merely to instigate problems and arrived on the scene with the sole agenda to demonize Orbán and ultimately help find his replacement.
Bryan Leib, an ambassador hopeful and also a fellow at Budapest’s Center for Fundamental Rights, posted on X: “This is absurd and 100% politically motivated! I wouldn’t be surprised if Ambassador Pressman is behind this.” As the countdown to Trump taking office begins, Leib added: “America must stop meddling into the domestic affairs of our allies around the world and in particular, in Hungary. This meddling will come to a full stop on January 20, 2025!”
Balázs Orbán, PM Orbán’s political director, posted: “This is a personal act of revenge by the failed Ambassador Pressman, who is set to leave Hungary in a few days.”
‼️ The Minister of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office has just been added to the U.S. sanctions list. This is a personal act of revenge by the failed @USAmbHungary Ambassador Pressman, who is set to leave Hungary in a few days.
🔜 As of January 20, the United States…
— Balázs Orbán (@BalazsOrban_HU) January 7, 2025And the head of the Prime Minister’s office, Gergely Gulyás, called putting Rogán on the sanctions list, “a petty revenge” by Pressman, according to the Fidesz website. Gulyás reportedly told MTI that Pressman had violated his official duties and disregarded the Vienna Convention by, instead of working to establish good relations with Hungary, doing everything he could to overthrow the government.
