WASHINGTON — The lawyer common for the District of Columbia is investigating whether or not a conservative filmmaker nominated by President Trump to guide the impartial company answerable for state-funded information shops illegally enriched himself with funds from a nonprofit group he runs, in line with a prime Democratic senator.
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the rating member on the International Relations Committee, stated on Thursday that the workplace of the lawyer common had notified the panel that it was “actively investigating” allegations that Michael Pack illegally funneled funds from his nonprofit group, the Public Media Lab, to his for-profit movie firm.
The announcement was a major setback within the Republican effort to rapidly verify Mr. Pack to guide the USA Company for International Media, a drive by which Mr. Trump has personally intervened in a bid to install an ally who would dictate more favorable news coverage of his administration. The agency oversees news organizations that together make up one of the largest media networks in the world, including the Voice of America, whose coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has recently infuriated Mr. Trump.
The president has said that the Senate’s failure so far to confirm Mr. Pack, who is a close ally of conservative activists and Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, was “preventing us from managing the Voice of America.”
But even before the investigation became public, Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Foreign Relations panel, had abruptly postponed a planned vote on Thursday to advance Mr. Pack’s nomination, citing opposition from Democrats.
A spokeswoman for the committee and for Mr. Risch declined to comment.
“Chairman Risch never should have put Mr. Pack up for a committee vote in light of Mr. Pack’s refusal to come clean with the Senate on his vetting issues,” Mr. Menendez said. Pointing to the attorney general’s investigation into Mr. Pack’s business dealings, he said that Mr. Risch should “hit pause on this nomination.”
Democrats have long opposed the nomination, fearing that Mr. Pack would try to curb the broadcasters’ editorial independence and demanding more answers about whether he engaged in inappropriate activity related to transactions between his film company and the nonprofit organization he runs.
At issue is whether he acted improperly by sending at least $1.6 million in donations to the Public Media Lab to his production company in a series of transactions first reported by MSNBC.
“If you hear what’s coming out of the Voice of America, it’s disgusting,” he said. “The things they say are disgusting toward our country. And Michael Pack would get in and do a great job.”
The president was so determined to hurry Mr. Pack’s confirmation that he called Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, about the matter. Days later, Mr. Risch scheduled the committee meeting to advance the long-stalled nomination.