Gadhafi-linked Libyan oil tycoon enters Washington lobbying fray

Libyan oil tycoon Hassan Tatanaki, who has ties to both the Gadhafi family and military strongman Khalifa Hifter, has registered his new political party to lobby the Donald Trump administration to join the push for fresh elections aimed at reunifying the war-torn country.

Tatanaki signed a $30,000 monthly contract last November with Yorktown Solutions, a small Washington-based lobbying shop, according to Justice Department records reviewed by Al-Monitor. The firm is run by Daniel Vajdich, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer and adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who previously lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian interests against the Russian-owned Nord Stream II pipeline to Germany.