Republican Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, and Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., introduced the "Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act" in the U.S. Congress on January 8, 2025.

The bipartisan bill bars recognition or normalization of relations "with any Government of Georgia that is led by Bidzina Ivanishvili or any proxies due to the Ivanishvili regime’s ongoing crimes against the Georgian people.” It also prescribes that the United States shall recognize Salome Zurabishvili as “the incumbent President of Georgia prior to the fraudulent elections on October 26, 2024" and as the only legitimate leader in Georgia.

In a commentary to Fox News Digital Rep. Cohen, said: "Sanctioned oligarch Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party has now become a tool of Putin. They falsified the October election and illegally picked a pliable president. The United States cannot and will not recognize this illegitimate government. The Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act will ensure that the United States does not. Until it agrees to free and fair elections, the Ivanishvili regime must remain fully isolated by all democratic governments."

The bill’s goals and spirit resemble the Rep. Wilson-led "Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act," which passed in February 2023. The bill was passed in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2025 and was signed into law by President Biden last month. 

In an apparent attempt to pre-empt news of the bill’s introduction, the Georgian Dream Political Council issued another anti-Western and conspirationalist statement the same day, describing sanctions against Georgian Dream officials and politicians as "anti-Georgian steps" orchestrated by what it calls the "Global War Party" and "deep state" networks. "These decisions should once again be assessed as anti-Georgian steps that undermine Georgian society’s trust in Western institutions," the statement said.

It went on to say that "every single politician and bureaucrat who makes anti-Georgian statements – be they presidents, prime ministers, parliamentarians, members of the European Parliament, diplomats or officials – is a member of the "deep state" network". The statement took particular aim at the bill’s sponsor, Representative Joe Wilson.

Civil.ge