George Simion paid several million dollars, but he was still unable to meet with Donald Trump

Wednesday, Feb 11, 2026

HVG

Sovereignist party paid US lobbying firm millions for failed Trump meeting; lawsuit filed over lost funds.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Documents released by the hotnews.ro portal reveal that the sovereignist AUR party contracted the American lobbying firm BGD Legal Consulting in March 2025 to arrange a meeting between their candidate, George Simion, and the US President before the presidential election held last May. Romanian media had previously reported that the far-right organization spent over one and a half million dollars on this US appearance, which the party consistently denied. The court documents show BGD Legal Consulting sued another lobbying group, Obsidian Advisory LLC, in a Georgian court on June 5, 2025, regarding the mediation of the Trump-Simion meeting. BGD paid an initial $100,000 and committed to paying $400,000 after the planned meeting. The consulting firm provided a detailed program which included Chris Ruddy, CEO of NewsMax, hosting the AUR politician in Mar-a-Lago for a potential photo opportunity with Donald Trump. However, two days before the scheduled photo op, Simion was informed that he would not meet Trump because the president was not in Florida. Furthermore, BGD Legal Consulting did not receive the promised coverage from Politico regarding Simion’s US stay. After incurring significant costs for the trip, which was intended to be a key part of the presidential campaign, the party requested further offers from the mediator and was promised meetings with the US Secretary of State or Vice President, but these also failed to materialize. The lawsuit filed by the plaintiff claims total damages of $4.6 million, covering mediation fees, travel, and costs incurred during the stay in the US. Although the case concluded last year, no decision was reached because the Georgian court’s jurisdiction could not be established based on the complaint. George Simion did not comment to hotnews.ro regarding the failure of the planned meetings or the money spent on them.

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