U.S. Helsinki Commission Holds Hearing on Georgia’s “Anti-American Turn”

Joe Wilson, Tinatin Khidasheli, Salome Zurabishvili and Helsinki Commission members following the September 10's hearing. Photo: Joe Wilson/X.

On September 10, the U.S. Helsinki Commission held a hearing titled “From Partner to Problem: Georgia’s Anti-American Turn.” Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili, former Defense Minister, Tinatin Khidasheli, and Hudson Institute fellow, Luke Coffey, testified. The hearing examined the “global consequences of Georgia’s slide into authoritarianism.”

Wilson: GD Doesn’t Represent Georgian People

Co-Chair Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), an outspoken critic of the Georgian Dream, accused Georgia’s ruling party of seizing power through 2024’s “fraudulent elections,” persecuting opposition leaders, silencing the media, and turning the country into “a laboratory of authoritarian control.”

Wilson charged that GD has chosen to “cozy up to the Chinese Communist Party,” handed strategic infrastructure to Beijing, and helped Moscow evade sanctions. He stressed that “Georgian Dream does not represent the Georgian people,” adding that Georgians had “shown through massive demonstrations, and in their own voices, they want democracies, sovereignty, and return to a future with the West of peace and prosperity.”

“Their aspirations are being crushed by a small group of oligarchs and autocrats who answer not to the people, but to the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, and war criminal Putin in Moscow, and also spending time with the dictatorship regime in Tehran,” Wilson asserted.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) recalled his 2015 meeting with GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili in Tbilisi, saying that he had “all the appearances of Elon Musk,” and characterized him as “rich, arrogant, elitist, very well thought of himself.” He added: “Georgia Dream has turned into the Georgia nightmare, because it has not been what it was professed to be […] Dissent has been discouraged. Surveillance and intimidation of citizens have been regular. And violence against peaceful protesters has been common.”

MEGOBARI Act Dead in the Senate?

Rep. Wilson urged swift passage of the MEGOBARI Act to “hold Georgian Dream accountable while standing firmly with the people of Georgia.”

The MEGOBARI Act that sailed through the House in May with bipartisan support entails sanctioning the authorities over human rights abuses, corruption, democratic backsliding, and ties with adversaries of the United States. The bill, however, stalled in the Senate.

Speaking at the hearing, Cohen (D-TN) strongly backed the Act, but lamented that it was “killed” in the Senate.

“Unfortunately, the Senate didn’t pass, and it looks like they are not going to pass the MEGOBARI law. There were some problems over there, and it might have been related to one particular business that’s building a port,” he said, stressing that “one person was able to apparently kill it.”

His remarks come as reports identify Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as the key obstacle to the bill. According to The Hill, Mullin persuaded Senate Republican Leader John Thune to strip the measure from the defense bill package. The Hill also cited Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) as opposing the measure.

Tbilisi Pushback

GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze denounced the criticism from Cohen and Wilson on September 11. “As for Joe Wilson, he is, first and foremost, a ‘deep state’ agent and then a funded lobbyist… just like Salome Zourabichvili and Tina Khidasheli.” He also labeled the MEGOBARI Act “a hostile act against the Georgian people,” welcoming its possible failure.

“You know that we have a specific goal, to reset relations from a clean slate with a specific roadmap and renew a strategic partnership with the USA. We maintain hope for this. The rest depends on the new US administration itself,” Kobakhidze added.

GD Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili also dismissed the bill as “first and foremost a matter of Congress’s own prestige, not to adopt a hostile act against the Georgian people.”

Testimonies

Zurabishvili: GD “Turned Its Back” on the U.S.

Testifying before the Commission Zurabishvili, highlighted decades of U.S. support, noting that Washington had invested over $6 billion in defense, economic development, education, and democracy-building. She described Georgia as “a strategic win for the U.S. over Russia” and warned that this achievement is now under threat.

Zurabishvili noted that she represented all the jailed activists, politicians, and journalists arrested since the late November’s protests that erupted as a result of the Georgian Dream’s decision to halt EU accession efforts, and specifically named journalist Mzia Amaghobeli, “a woman who is in jail for absolutely no reason.”

Zurabishvili said Georgian Dream had “turned its back” on the U.S. by “distancing and isolating both itself and the country from its trusted ally, while increasingly aligning with the United States’ adversaries.”

She stressed that Georgia matters for the US, since “without stability in Georgia there is no peace in the South Caucasus,” and Washington must act to avoid Georgia becoming “a grey zone where all forms of circumventions, trafficking, migrant routes would be flourishing.”

Zurabishvili asserted that “American taxpayers, diplomats, and servicemen have invested heavily in Georgia’s success. To watch that investment wasted through anti-democratic behavior, actions that contradict the US security interests, and hostile rhetoric should be unacceptable.”

She said that there must be “real consequences” for those in power in Tbilisi who “degrade democratic institutions, stifle dissent, and jeopardize the country’s Euro-Atlantic trajectory,” “the Georgian people deserve better – and so do the American people, whose support has always been rooted in the hope of a free, stable, and democratic Georgia,” she concluded.

Khidasheli: Georgia – “Corridor of Freedom”

Former Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli underscored Georgia’s geographic and strategic importance, calling it the “corridor of freedom” and a vital anchor of the Middle Corridor trade route bypassing Russia and Iran.

She accused GD of blocking U.S. businesses while courting Chinese companies, citing the Anaklia deep-sea port case: “They created a textbook case, the American consortium was kicked out, and the promise was made for a Chinese company to fill the position.” “Fortunately, it has not happened yet, but there is a very strong interest on the Georgian Dream side to pave the way to the Chinese company.”

Khidasheli urged Washington to impose visa bans “on the ruling elite, their families, their enablers, and punish those who betray Georgia,” while boosting students’ scholarships, civil society support, and assistance for independent media. “MEGOBARI Act sends the strongest possible signal that Georgia’s democratic future remains a U.S. strategic priority, it provides tools to hold accountable those who undermine democracy,” she said.

Responding to Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), who inquired whether Russian or Chinese forces had engaged in direct military cooperation with Georgia, Khidasheli said there is no direct cooperation“so far, fortunately,” but recalled that in 2020, procurement contracts at the Defense Ministry were signed with a Chinese company, sanctioned by the U.S. and European partners. She also highlighted surveillance technology purchases from sanctioned Chinese firms, saying such equipment had been “used against the protesters.”

Coffey: GD Narratives about ‘Second Front’ “Nonsense”

Hudson Institute senior fellow Luke Coffey reiterated concerns over Georgia’s deepening ties with China, Iran, and Russia. He rejected GD’s repeated claims that Western officials are pushing Georgia to open a second front against Russia, calling it “nonsense.” “I have never heard anyone in Washington, D.C. suggest that Georgia should open up a second front against Russia,” he outlined.

He also touched upon the Georgian Dream’s narrative that their values align with President Trump’s, voicing that “Cozying up to Iran is not in line with President Trump’s worldview. Inviting the CCP into your critical infrastructure is not consistent with President Trump’s worldview. Enabling Russia to circumvent sanctions undermines President Trump’s ability to broker peace in Ukraine.”

Coffey urged U.S. policymakers to “play the long game” with Georgia, “we should be ready to get the relationship back on track when the circumstances allow,” he concluded.

The session concluded with lawmakers stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be stopped in Ukraine through strong sanctions and prevented from selling oil and gas. “God bless the Republic of Georgia,” Rep. Wilson concluded.

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