“A prolific political fundraiser who donated large sums to President Trump’s inaugural committee is expected to plead guilty to federal criminal charges.” the AP reports.
“The Justice Department says Imaad Zuberi will admit in federal court in Los Angeles that he falsified records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials.”
Rudy Giuliani was paid $500,000 for work he did for Fraud Guarantee, a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges, Reuters reports.
“Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his dealings in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Federal law requires American citizens to disclose to the Justice Department any contacts with the government or media in the United States at the direction or request of foreign politicians or government officials, regardless of whether they pay for the representation. Law enforcement officials have made clear in recent years that covert foreign influence is as great a threat to the country as spies trying to steal government secrets.”
“In less than three years, President Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight, putting a substantial amount of oversight in the hands of people with ties to the industries they’re regulating,” the AP reports.
“The Cabinet choices are another sign that Trump’s populist pledge to ‘drain the swamp’ is a catchy campaign slogan but not a serious attempt to change the way Washington works.”
Former White House counsel Greg Craig was acquitted by a federal jury on Wednesday on a felony false-statement charge, a major vindication for one of the most prominent lawyers in Washington, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The acquittal lifts a pall over Mr. Craig’s otherwise distinguished career at the upper echelons of law and politics, and represents a major setback for the Justice Department, which sought to make an example of Mr. Craig as it ramped up its enforcement of the laws governing work on behalf of foreign governments.”
Joe Biden entered the Democratic primary promising “from day one” to reject campaign cash from lobbyists, the AP reports.
“Yet hours after his April campaign kickoff, the former vice president went to a fundraiser at the home of a lobbying executive. And in the months since, he’s done it again and again.”
“It’s difficult to quantify how much Biden has raised from the multibillion-dollar influence industry, but the roughly $200,000 he accepted from employees of major lobbying firms is far more than any of his rivals has received.”
New York Times: “It is a trial tailor-made to grab the attention of this city’s power brokers: In a federal courtroom this month, one of Washington’s most prominent lawyers — a former White House counsel and attorney to global statesmen and other icons — is battling criminal charges of lying to investigators about his work for a shady foreign client.”
“But the most riveting aspect of the case against the lawyer, Gregory Craig, is not his innocence or guilt. Rather, it is the depiction of the seamy world of power brokers like Mr. Craig that prosecutors have painted during nearly two weeks of testimony and in an array of court filings.”
Tom Barrack, the longtime friend of President Trump and the chairman of his inaugural, is the subject of a federal probe into influence peddling by foreign governments, the New York Times reports.
“Investigators have looked in particular at whether Mr. Barrack or others violated the law requiring people who try to influence American policy or opinion at the direction of foreign governments or entities to disclose their activities to the Justice Department.”
“The inquiry had proceeded far enough last month that Mr. Barrack, who played an influential role in the campaign and acts as an outside adviser to the White House, was interviewed, at his request, by prosecutors in the public integrity unit of the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn.”
“A business associate of the former national security adviser Michael Flynn was convicted on Tuesday in Northern Virginia of secretly lobbying for Turkey, a victory for the government after the judge considered dismissing the case because prosecutors lacked evidence,” the New York Times reports.
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.”
Jonathan Swan: “The top advocate for corporate America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has installed a sign on the front steps of its headquarters in Washington, D.C., comparing Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. Their building is right near the White House.”
“Comparing Trump to Reagan and Eisenhower is quite a leap for a group that got on the wrong side of the president by excoriating his 2016 campaign and clashing with him on everything from tariffs to immigration policy.”
Peter Buttigieg’s campaign announced that it would stop accepting “any money from lobbyists” and would return $30,250 he’d already gotten from 39 registered lobbyists, CNN reports.
All the other top tier Democratic candidates had already sworn taking money from lobbyists long ago.
“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.”
“The investment firm founded by the chairman of Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, Tom Barrack, developed a plan to profit off its connections to the incoming administration and foreign dignitaries,” according to a confidential memo obtained by ProPublica.
From the memo: “The key is to strategically cultivate domestic and international relations while avoiding any appearance of lobbying.”
“Federal prosecutors in recent weeks have been interviewing witnesses about the flow of foreign money to three powerful law and lobbying firms that Paul Manafort recruited seven years ago to help improve the image of the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“The previously unreported interviews about the flow of the money are among the latest developments in the investigation of key figures who worked at the three firms — Mercury Public Affairs, the Podesta Group and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.”
“The case has drawn intense interest in Washington in part because of the prominence of the three main figures, each of whom has played high-profile roles in politics and lobbying.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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