Free Republic

Talk about your all-time backfires. Instead of landing a major hit on the president’s son, a German-backed publication has drawn massive federal attention onto its foreign ownership structure and lobbying activities before the federal government. This broader “German Influence Operation” has grabbed the attention of the White House and senior administration officials and even entangles a key Washington lobbyist who has reportedly had an on-again-off-again lukewarm relationship with the president. It all comes, too, as worldwide pressure builds on German government officials over their censorship regime against political opponents and the efforts of a central European nation with a dark...

State Rep. Brent Money (R–Greenville) says that taxpayer-funded lobbying—a long-standing target of conservative activists—won’t be getting a hearing in the House State Affairs Committee. “For the last few days, we have been trying to get particularly taxpayer-funded lobbying pushed through State Affairs,” said Money in an interview with Texas Scorecard. “Middleton’s Senate Bill 19 has been sitting in there since late March—over a month. And so it’s just like, where is it? Can we get it moved?” According to Money, he spoke directly with both House Speaker Dustin Burrows and State Affairs Committee Chairman Ken King about the issue. The...

With the Legislature set to convene in the coming weeks, fiscal responsibility advocates are pressing for lawmakers to follow through on a ban to end taxpayer-funded lobbying. “Taxpayer-funded lobbying” refers to a common practice among cities, counties, and school districts that hire lobbyists with local tax revenue. These lobbyists then work to advance policies that benefit local governments—often at the expense of citizens. A 2019 poll from the Texas Public Policy Foundation showed 88 percent of Texans oppose the practice. In addition, the issue is a legislative priority for the Texas GOP this session. “A ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying has...

Wyoming radiologist Eric Cubin petitioned the federal court in Cheyenne last week to reinstate him to Wyoming’s Board of Medicine. Cubin was appointed to the board, which oversees the licensing and regulations of the medical profession, by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon in 2023 and reappointed to another four-year term last March. Only weeks after his reappointment, the governor’s chief of staff notified him by telephone that the governor had removed him from the board. After hanging up, he received a letter from the governor, via email, that confirmed his removal and stated its cause. Gordon wrote, “I have been made...

[Catholic Caucus] The long road to replacing Cardinal O'MalleyThe announcement Monday that Bishop Richard Henning will replace Cardinal Sean O’Malley as Archbishop of Boston has ended one of the longest-running points of speculation in the Church in the United States. O’Malley steps down after more than two decades in charge of what has traditionally been one of the country’s most prominent sees. He turned 80 years old in June, aging him out of participation in a future conclave, and putting him more than five years past the nominal episcopal retirement age.The announcement of Henning as his replacement follows years of...

(AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Saturday at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground. AFP reporters saw Zelensky enter the lobby of the luxury hotel hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is attended by defence ministers from around the world. Zelensky will speak at the security forum on Sunday, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which organised the three-day event.

Former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Wednesday joined Husch Blackwell Strategies, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm with close ties to the veteran GOP senator. Blunt will lead a newly launched strategic advisory practice at the firm, which is run by Gregg Hartley, Blunt’s former chief of staff in the House, and Andy Blunt, his son. Blunt will also reunite with Stacy McBride, his chief of staff in the Senate who joined the firm last month. Blunt recently retired from Congress after 26 years in office. He held several prominent roles, chairing the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Republican Policy Committee...

Kroger is contracting with former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a lobbying push to win approval of its proposed merger with Albertsons, the company said in a press release. Boehner, who works for law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, will “provide strategic counsel” to Kroger executives and won’t register to lobby. Squire Patton Boggs’ Tommy Andrews and David Schnittger, two former Boehner aides, and Caren Street, former chief of staff to then-Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, will lobby on Kroger’s behalf. Kroger is hiring several well-connected lobbyists as it seeks to dissuade...

In 2020, Foreign Policy published a report describing the many ways in which Chinese tech companies were helping China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) to process stolen data — much of it stolen from U.S. citizens: China has, to date, stolen the data of 80% of Americans. One of the companies mentioned in the extensive report was Alibaba, the e-commerce giant headquartered in the ancient Chinese city of Hangzhou. Answerable ultimately to the Chinese Communist Party, the multinational retail and tech colossus was recently accused of conducting espionage for the CCP by a Belgian minister. Alibaba isn't just processing stolen...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Sunday he is requesting “at least $12 billion” in aid for Ukraine in a stop-gap spending bill. Schumer said during a press conference on Sunday, “Ukraine has made significant advances against Russia in the war, the vicious war that Putin has waged against the Ukrainian people.”

Behind the closed doors of an unassuming philanthropic consultancy in Washington, D.C., is one of the most powerful lobbying forces in the United States. The Atlantic has called it “the massive progressive dark-money group you’ve never heard of” and “the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money.” The Washington Post believes its potent lobbying arm is reason enough for Congress to enact forced donor disclosure laws, while Politico labelled it a “dark-money behemoth.” “The system of political financing, which often obscures the identities of donors, is known as dark money,” wrote The New York Times, “and Arabella’s network is a leading...

Emails on Hunter Biden's laptop show that his role on the Burisma Board of Directors was to lobby high-ranking US government officials to use their influence to persuade the Ukraine government to shut down all criminal charges against the company. This objective was achieved by none other than then Vice-President Joe Biden when he threatened to withhold a billion-dollar US aid package to Ukraine unless the prosecutor pursuing charges against Burisma was fired. The prosecutor was fired within a few hours—an outcome the VP publicly boasted about afterward. "A lot of people were saying that my son was unqualified for...

Retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, is on administrative leave from his role as president of the Brookings Institute D.C. think tank after the FBI seized his electronic data on suspicion of lying to investigators and withholding evidence about his role in secretly lobbying for the government of Qatar. As a general, he commanded all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in the Obama administration. The court records, which were unsealed Tuesday, are the latest public evidence showing the FBI and Justice Department are conducting a large-scale investigation into the stateside influence of wealthy Arab nations including Qatar, Saudi Arabia...

President Joe Biden is urging Congress to quickly pass Ukraine aid in a move that would prioritize assistance for Kyiv over new Covid relief funding for the U.S. "I call on Congress to pass the Ukrainian Supplemental funding bill immediately, and get it to my desk in the next few days," Biden said in a statement Monday. His decision to separate the two bills should help clear the way for congressional approval of nearly $40 billion in funding for Ukraine, but it leaves in limbo a $10 billion pandemic relief bill that Biden and Democrats have said was a top...

An analysis of FARA filings shows they contacted members of Congress and others over 10,000 times. ------------- AS TENSIONS WITH Russia reach a boiling point, lobbyists from Ukraine are working feverishly to shape the U.S. response. Firms working for Ukrainian interests have inundated congressional offices, think tanks, and journalists with more than 10,000 messages and meetings in 2021, according to an analysis of Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, filings for a forthcoming report from the Quincy Institute. To put this extraordinary campaign into perspective, the Saudi lobby — known for being one of the largest foreign lobbies in D.C....

The Justice Department is investigating Hunter Biden for foreign lobbying violations related to his overseas business dealings - likely in places such as China, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan - in addition to scrutinizing his taxes, according to a new report. Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss is known to be leading a federal investigation into President Joe Biden's adult son, who denies any wrongdoing, and the New York Times reported Wednesday that the investigation, which began as “a tax inquiry” during the Obama administration, then “widened” in 2018 to encompass “possible criminal violations of tax laws, as well as foreign lobbying and...

Tony Podesta made $1 million lobbying the White House on behalf of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, public disclosure forms show. Podesta earned $500,000 lobbying the "Executive Office of the President" on "Issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues" in the fourth quarter of 2021, the New York Post reported, citing public disclosure forms released last week. He pulled in another $500,000 from Huawei to lobby the "White House Office" on "Issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues" in the third quarter of 2021.

Republicans and Democrats alike are now working for the Big Pharma lobby Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent vaccine rollout, pharmaceutical giants including Pfizer and Moderna have substantially increased their lobbying efforts, a National Pulse investigation has revealed. The lobbying apparatuses at both vaccine-reliant companies – in terms of the number of lobbyists hired and the overall budget deployed to influence government officials – have seen dramatic increases since 2019

As resident Biden said in an April speech, “We’re in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century. We’re at a great inflection point in history.” He’s right: The stakes are big. So why do we allow China, a hostile foreign communist government that wants to replace the US as the global superpower, to buy influence in our political system--including hiring well-connected former Members of Congress? Chinese lobbying has increased dramatically, according to OpenSecrets. In 2016, the Chinese government and corporate interests spent about $10 million. In 2020, that figure ballooned to $65 million. The Chinese are...

Chinese telecom giant Huawei is hiring Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta to try and 'warm relations with the Biden administration,' according to Politico which cites two people familiar with the matter.Podesta will work to advance a variety of the company’s goals in Washington, according to one of the people. He declined to comment. A spokesperson for Huawei also declined to comment.Huawei faces a host of challenges in Washington. In February 2020, the Justice Department charged the company with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO — a key DOJ tool for going after organized crime. DOJ alleged that...