US President Donald Trump secured a historic peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former members of the Soviet Union, a White House official confirmed to the Washington Reporter, the latter reports.

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, are scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House on Friday to sign this deal.

However, a scandal of potential political persecution happening 5,800 miles away in Armenia has made its way to Washington D.C., raising concerns in both Congress and throughout the Trump administration.

The matter concerns the detention of businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan.

Protestors gathered outside the hotel where the Prime Minister of Armenia is staying, and sources tell the Reporter they will protest outside the White House on Friday.

A source close to the Trump administration told the Reporter that “clearly the Prime Minister is using Biden-like tactics against Karapetyan. He was raided and prosecuted for simply speaking his mind and defending his religion. This is a cloud above his head as he goes to Washington.”

An attorney for Karapetyan, Joseph H. Tipograph told the Reporter that “the prosecution of Mr. Karapetyan is centered not on acts of violence or conspiracy but on speech: his public defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church on June 17, 2025, and his criticism of the government’s actions. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Pashinyan issued retaliatory social media posts, followed by a raid and arrest. Charges for incitement and financial crimes soon followed, despite the lack of factual evidence connecting him to any criminal act.”

Just hours after Karapetyan’s arrest, Pashinyan announced that the government would nationalize the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), a company Karapetyan’s Tashir Group has owned and operated since 2015. Critics, including the family of Karapetyan have argued in a lawsuit that the Armenian government’s actions are “arbitrary, discriminatory, politically motivated and aimed at dispossessing the Karapetyan family of ENA.”

The person close to the Trump Administration told the Reporter that this “looks exactly like the Tish James playbook. Prosecute your opponent, just like they did with Trump. Then try to seize their assets and businesses. Looks Marxist to anyone with a brain.”

The concerns have also reached the U.S. Congress, with a senior Senate aide telling the Reporter that “Armenia relies on the U.S. in many ways. And when Armenia acts more like the Soviet Union than a free country, more than one Senator is thinking that we need to reevaluate the U.S.-Armenian relationship.”