Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has commented on the report that a Trump official helped get Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro a visa to go to the United States in the wake of Viktor Orbán losing power in Hungary, where he and his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, had claimed asylum.
Both men have since fled to the U.S.
Tusk told press that he had asked Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek to present their American counterparts with complete information regarding the Polish government’s allegations against Zbigniew Ziobro, according to Do Rzeczy.
Polish prosecutors accuse Ziobro of 26 offenses, including abuse of power, misuse of public funds, and involvement in an alleged criminal group. Ziobro denies wrongdoing and says the case is a political vendetta by liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government.
The Polish prime minister added that he was counting on their full involvement “in the coming hours.”
“When we pursue criminals or individuals facing such serious charges as Minister Ziobro, I would very much like this information to reach as widely as possible in the United States to anyone who can help us in this matter,” he added.
Tusk wants Americans to know, among his other charges, that Ziobro used money intended to support crime victims to purchase the Pegasus system, which was intended, among other things, to spy on the opposition in Poland.
According to a report out of Reuters, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau gave the order to allow Ziobro to enter the United States, i.e., asked the American Embassy in Budapest to issue a visa to him. It remains unclear how Romanowski was allowed to enter.
There is no indication that either President Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marc Rubio were directly involved.
Reuters did note that Ziobro’s case was originally brought to Landau’s attention by U.S. Ambassador in Warsaw Tom Rose, and Landau believed he was being “unjustly prosecuted.”
Tusk, however, has high hopes that the U.S. will extradite Ziobro in the end.
“I am convinced that if we successfully reach them with full information about the charges against Mr. Ziobro, the matter of future extradition may end in success,” he said.
