Throughout a speech this summer season in entrance of hundreds of supporters, Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, detailed the shut connections he has nurtured with former President Donald Trump.
“Now we have entered the policy-writing system of President Donald Trump’s staff,” Orbán mentioned. “Now we have deep involvement there.”
The previous president speaks extremely of the Hungarian chief, too. Throughout his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump described Orbán as one of many world’s “most revered males” — a “robust man” and “a troublesome individual.”
Beneath the shut public relationship between the 2 leaders are what sources have described as frequent and detailed exchanges that delve deeply into political and governing technique. Ought to Trump win the election subsequent week, theirs may change into a defining overseas coverage relationship for a second Trump time period.
“Orbán put all his playing cards on Trump’s victory,” one supply near the Hungarian authorities informed CBS Information – a actuality Orban is just not shy about broadcasting.
“Simply bought off the telephone with President @realDonald Trump,” Orban posted on X on Thursday. “I wanted him the most effective of luck for subsequent Tuesday. Solely 5 days to go. Fingers crossed.”
Whereas these near Orbán and the Trump marketing campaign have declined to specify the exact nature of the personal communication between the 2, sources near the Hungarian authorities describe the usage of Hungarian government-funded assume tanks as conduits used to change info with conservative U.S. assume tanks on matters like Ukraine, household coverage and successful elections.
“As left-wing events have been serving to one another for the previous hundred years, with insurance policies and in addition typically with marketing campaign ways, it’s fairly doable that conservatives from throughout the globe from India to Europe to America may assist one another with a number of the greatest practices in campaigns as effectively,” Istvan Kiss, of Danube Institute, a pro-government assume tank in Budapest informed CBS Information.
A give attention to “learn how to win”
In his 14 years in energy, Orbán’s authorities has handed laws that focused asylum seekers, non-governmental organizations, LGBTQ+ people, and the unbiased press. The ruling social gathering, Fidesz, handed a regulation that transferred management of Hungary’s primary state universities to foundations run by Orbán’s allies. And Orbán has change into identified for xenophobic and racist statements, calling refugees “Muslim invaders” and saying Hungarians don’t wish to change into a “combined race.”
Orbán’s administration has urged the Trump marketing campaign to chart an isolationist path on the Ukraine battle, with assume tanks taking part in a pivotal function in delivering that message. Communication flows overtly between Hungarian and conservative assume tanks within the U.S. after which is funneled to members of Trump’s marketing campaign employees, in line with a number of sources near the Hungarian authorities, all of whom spoke on the situation they continue to be unnamed out of concern of reprisal.
A polling agency referred to as KÓD Piackutató Intézet, which is linked to the pro-Orbán think-tank Századvég Basis shares info with allies of the Trump marketing campaign that focuses on “learn how to win elections,” in line with a supply near the assume tank.
Századvég Basis was based in 1993 to conduct political analysis. It is identified for working with American political GOP consultants, together with the late Arthur J. Finkelstein, who additionally labored on campaigns for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ronald Reagan. Századvég depends on a trademark components: “creating an enemy.”
The Századvég Basis is considered one of a handful of Hungarian assume tanks that use Hungarian taxpayer funds to provoke pro-government targets, which embody pushing for nearer relationships with overseas governments.
One of many closest bonds is between the pro-Orbán Danube Institute and the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Basis, a conservative assume tank lately identified for its function in a doable Trump transition plan referred to as Mission 2025.
Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Basis, described Orban’s management as a “mannequin for conservative governance” throughout a press briefing earlier this 12 months. Former president Trump has denied any involvement in Mission 2025. Members of the 2 assume tanks have held in-person conferences each three months, each in Washington, D.C., and Budapest, the place consultants focus on points such because the Ukraine conflict and immigration, in line with sources near each establishments.
In 2023, the Danube Institute additionally agreed to host visiting researchers from The Heritage Basis to review Hungarian insurance policies in numerous fields. Heritage and Danube signed an settlement in 2023 that concerned no monetary transactions by both social gathering, CBS has discovered. By cooperation with right-wing intellectuals overseas, the Danube Institute has proved instrumental in selling the culturally conservative imaginative and prescient of Orbán’s Hungary.
“I’m proud to name Viktor Orbán a good friend and ally, and I’m pleased with the robust relationship between Heritage and The Danube Institute,” Kevin Roberts, President of The Heritage Basis informed CBS Information.
“Hungary is an instance for all of Europe in the way it promotes household values and nationwide sovereignty, in addition to for its implementing an immigration coverage that places the curiosity of the frequent man first,” Roberts mentioned. “Whereas Heritage doesn’t take a cent from overseas governments or establishments, we’re working alongside conservatives all over the world to finish the globalist period.”
These cross-border initiatives seem like a part of a overseas coverage technique for Orbán. A latest investigation by the unbiased Hungarian information outlet Atlatszo revealed that authorities funding has enabled the Danube Institute to pay greater than $1.64 million to its overseas companions over the previous three years. Danube’s funds to visiting students, writers, and audio system, predominantly from the U.S., have risen throughout that point.
Cooperation between the Heritage Basis and Hungarian authorities proxies just like the Danube Institute, turned extra energetic after the 2020 elections, in line with Atlatszo’s investigation.
The Danube Institute, for example, paid a visiting lecturer from the Texas Public Coverage Basis $8,400 to write down a 10-page paper “on Hungarian migration coverage and classes discovered for the state of Texas,” in line with a 2024 contract described by the Hungarian information outlet.
That Texas public coverage creator, Melissa Ford Maldonado, beforehand labored for the Trump White Home as a fellow on the Workplace of American Innovation after which on the Home Coverage Council. Maldonado didn’t reply to CBS Information’s request for remark.
“The Orbán authorities has clearly invested loads by means of a number of means attempting to form U.S. public opinion,” mentioned one senior U.S. official who intently tracks these communications.
Hungary has not employed brokers in Washington to foyer for its pursuits – it is likely one of the few nations with out a single energetic agency or particular person registered with the U.S. Justice Division, a requirement for all overseas authorities lobbyists.
Safety issues
Assume tanks usually are not the one channel for communication between the Hungarian authorities and the U.S.
“Viktor Orbán and some higher-ranking folks round him incessantly change textual content messages with high-level Republican politicians,” a supply near the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., mentioned, suggesting that Orbán desires to maintain a detailed eye on U.S.-Hungary relations. “Which may elevate safety issues.”
Considered one of these Republicans is Trump’s working mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Vance met with Hungarian officers in Washington D.C, and he is likely one of the most vocal U.S. senators in help of Orbán.
“I believe Orbán made good selections that we may study from within the U.S.,” mentioned Vance in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” in June 2024.
Vance was invited to Budapest within the fall by people near the Hungarian authorities, CBS Information has discovered. He canceled the journey however some in his social gathering have paid frequent visits to Hungary throughout the previous 12 months and reciprocated the invitation to Washington to their Hungarian counterparts.
In February, Vance attended a closed-door occasion on the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., about Christian values and Hungary’s pro-family insurance policies, a supply near the Hungarian Embassy informed CBS Information. The supply mentioned political director Balazs Orbán (no relation to Viktor Orbán) is incessantly in contact with Trump’s working mate.
A number of sources in Washington referred to as Balazs Orbán “a key determine in constructing relationships” between Hungary and Trump’s staff. “He performs a really energetic function on this,” one supply mentioned.
The previous president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Budapest in June, to provide a speech at Mathias Corvinus Collegium. His go to centered on the way forward for Hungarian-American relations, the conflict in Ukraine and alternatives to forge peace. A supply near the Hungarian embassy mentioned Trump Jr.’s invitation served the identical goal as Vance’s: “constructing a community of individuals Orbán can contact instantly” in case Trump wins the presidency.
Balazs Orbán met Vance in April 2023 in Washington, D.C. He referred to as Vance a “good good friend of Hungary” and thanked him for standing up for his or her shared values in a publish on X.
The energetic info change has come at a fragile second for U.S.-Hungary relations. Final month, 5 Republican U.S. senators returned from a visit to Hungary with a blunt declaration – that Orbán’s authorities had displayed a noticeable shift towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Our delegation and plenty of of our congressional colleagues are more and more involved by Hungary’s deepening and increasing relationship with Russia and the continued erosion of its democratic establishments,” U.S. Sen Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, mentioned in a press release launched by senators after the go to.
The Senate delegation was led by Moran and in addition included Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, John Boozman of Arkansas, and John Hoeven of North Dakota.
“Now we have Hungary as an ally of the U.S., and we’re deeply involved with the extent of democratic backsliding in Hungary in addition to Hungary’s selections of deepening ties with Putin’s Russia and Xi’s China,” one senior U.S. diplomat informed CBS Information. “That is the place our focus is.”
Orbán is broadly seen as Putin’s closest ally within the EU — he incessantly repeats pro-Kremlin speaking factors concerning the Ukraine conflict. And he has vetoed a number of EU selections to help Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
Orbán’s relationship with Trump has solely strengthened for the reason that former president left workplace in 2021. The 2 met in July at Mar-a-Lago throughout Orbán’s “peace mission” proper after visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Péter Krekó, the director of the Budapest-based Political Capital analysis institute referred to as the timing of the Mar-a-Lago assembly, on the heels of the Putin go to, “symbolic,” noting that they each supplied related “pro-peace” message concerning the battle in Ukraine.
“The success of Hungarian comfortable energy has been greatest in the USA,” mentioned Kreko, whose assume tank is just not government-sponsored. “Basic comfortable energy instruments made it doable: private connections, investments in media ties, and diplomacy [between think tanks] — all with some huge cash.”
The Trump marketing campaign, Sen. Vance, and Prime Minister Orbán’s political director, Balazs Orbán, didn’t reply for remark.
Századvég Basis, KÓD Piackutató Intézet, and the Danube Institute didn’t reply to a request for remark from CBS Information.
