Washington DC – Monday- 21/05/2018 – New York Institute For Foreign Policy Affairs “NIFPA” warns of the continued power “buying” activities by foreign countries in DC. NIFPA’s analysis found out that International companies, organisations and governments are heavily involved in unprecedented activities to affect the decision makers in the US.
NIFPA criticizes the foreign lobbying activities taking place in DC which is in contradictory to Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946. Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House should take immediate steps to seize the ever-rising activities of lobbying especially the illegal ones practised on behalf of totalitarian regimes in Asia and the Middle East.
NIFPA calls on the Congress’s two chambers (House of Representatives and U.S. Senate) to work toward investigating numerous media reports about pro trump groups exploiting their position and power to help foreign powers gain political grounds and support in the US.
A growing Pro Trump Network of Lobbyists
According to The Wall Street Journal, one of the clients Michael Cohen referred to law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs during a “strategic partnership” is a company with ties to Kushner Cos.
That company, U.S. Immigration Fund LLC, became a client of the firm last year and had previously organized a trip for Kushner Cos., the family business of White House adviser and President Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner that is currently under federal investigation.
USA Today reported earlier that lobbyists with ties to Donald Trump and Mike Pence have raked in at least $28 million for their lobbying since Trump became president.
Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen raked in over $2 million combined from Novartis, AT&T, and a South Korean defense company. The three companies have confirmed their payments, though they claim they received little in exchange, Quartz reported
Another Trump whisperer, Brian Ballard, has become “the most powerful lobbyist in Trump’s Washington,” according to Politico. His year-old firm, Ballard Partners, is raking in the cash, competitors say, but playing by DC rules. The difference is that Ballard operates like a lobbyist should, DC veterans say. “They do meetings on the Hill, they talk to administrative folks,” and they’re registered as lobbyists.
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates – the Foreign Money
The summer 2016 Arab Gulf political crisis opened a large scale propaganda war waged by United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Washington DC has been in the forefront of this crisis of this War. The corruption, dirty money of Political deceit and manipulation of the United Arab Emirates has finally landed in DC.
The Agenda of the Arab monarchy is not keen on ending terrorism or helping boost the American foreign policy. Rather, it is endangering the American interest and interfering into the US relations in the Middle East and the globe.
Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that a veteran of Pentagon propaganda operations was hired last year by a Dubai-based company to create a film accusing Qatar of links to terrorism. Charles Andreae was paid $500,000 to produce a six-part film linking Qatar with “global terrorism,” according to the
UAE and Saudi Arabia hired the U.S.-based firm, Andreae & Associates, to create a six-part movie called “Qatar: A Dangerous Alliance” to discredit the gulf state.
Meanwhile, the New York Times revealed that a cooperating witness in the special counsel investigation worked for more than a year to turn a top Trump fund-raiser into an instrument of influence at the White House for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to interviews and previously undisclosed documents.
High on the agenda of the two men — George Nader, a political adviser to the de facto ruler of the U.A.E., and Elliott Broidy, the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee — was pushing the White House to remove Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, backing confrontational approaches to Iran and Qatar and repeatedly pressing the president to meet privately outside the White House with the leader of the U.A.E.
The New York Times also reported that On March 25 2017, Mr. Elliott Broidyemailed Mr. Nader a spreadsheet outlining a proposed Washington lobbying and public relations campaign against both Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. The proposed campaign’s total cost was $12.7 million.
The McClatchy Company was paid over $300,000 by the UAE to post negative ads about Qatar on social media. That’s on top of millions paid to a constellation of PR firms and lobbyists that push the UAE and Saudi lines in D.C.
The United Arab Emirates money reach beyond hiring PR companies for propaganda purposes. Top Classified reports showed how UAE is buying the support of Congress members through shadowy lobbyists and public affairs companies. Yousef Al Otaiba, the current United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States are the centre of these reports.
Currently, United Arab Emirates in Washington – with the help of secret lobbyists – are preparing an international conference on June 2017 on what they claim to be the Qatari opposition. While in fact, this is yet another trick to deceit the decision makers in DC.
The American politics has become more and more vulnerable to International money and interference by foreign regimes. United Arab Emirates efforts is very dangerous and will indeed have negative impacts on the US interests worldwide, particularly the middle East.
-End-
Author
-
The New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs (NYCFPA) is a policy, research, and educational organization headquartered in New York State with an office in Washington D.C. NYCFPA is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, institution devoted to conducting in-depth research and analysis on every aspect of American foreign policy and its impact around the world. The organization is funded by individual donors. The organization receives no corporate or government donations.