Axios: “At Mar-a-Lago, we’re seeing a whole new form of lobbying. People pay dues to the private club of the president of the United States, then try to influence him in person on government policy — all outside the normal watchdogs and strictures and surveillance of Washington. It’s a stunning situation.”

Trump is “in his happy place at his club or at the golf course. He is completely relaxed. And that’s when he’s most receptive to ideas. It’s this weird world where you’ve got him at the dining table people come up and talk to him and you get an invaluable piece of time with the most powerful person on earth.”

New York Times: “Initially slow to develop a presence in Washington, the tech giants — Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google — have rapidly built themselves into some of the largest players in the influence and access industry as they confront threats from the Trump administration and both parties on Capitol Hill.”

“The four companies spent a combined $55 million on lobbying last year, doubling their combined spending of $27.4 million in 2016, and some are spending at a higher rate so far this year.”

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, navigating dramatic cultural change that’s transforming the worlds of politics and business, plans to become less aligned with the Republican Party than it has been for decades,” the Washington Post reports.

“The largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Washington is changing the way it evaluates lawmakers for the first time in 40 years, launching a $250 million capital campaign to remodel its headquarters and even rethinking its approach to regulation.”

“Several dues-paying companies have balked as the Chamber endorsed fewer and fewer Democrats over the past several election cycles. The GOP’s drift toward protectionism, nativism and isolationism since Donald Trump took over the party in 2016 is also at odds with the Chamber’s longtime support for expanding free trade, growing legal immigration and investing in infrastructure.”

“A previously unreleased invoice indicates that David Bernhardt, President Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department, continued to lobby for a major client several months after he filed official papers saying that he had ended his lobbying activities,” the New York Times reports.

“A long-running federal investigation into a former White House counsel in the Obama administration is reaching a critical stage, presenting the Justice Department with a decision about whether to charge a prominent Democrat as part of a more aggressive crackdown on illegal foreign lobbying,” the New York Times reports.

“The case involving the lawyer, Gregory Craig, was transferred in January from federal prosecutors in New York to those in Washington. The previously undisclosed move was driven by Justice Department officials in Washington, and reflects an eagerness within the department to prosecute violations of lobbying laws after the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, focused on foreign influence in his investigations.”

“Federal prosecutors in New York are weighing criminal charges against former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig as part of an investigation into whether he failed to register as a foreign agent in a probe that is linked to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort,” Politico reports.

“Samuel Patten, an associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was charged Friday with failing to register as a foreign agent for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party,” Politico reports.

“The case, being handled by the U.S. attorney for Washington, was referred by special counsel Robert Mueller. The matter was scheduled for an 11 a.m. hearing in a D.C. federal court before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is also expected to preside over Manafort’s upcoming trial on money laundering charges.”

Earlier this year, The Alantic explained Patten’s connection to Cambridge Analytica and the suspected Russian intelligence agent Konstantin Kilimnik.