US lobbying emerges as key issue in Tunisian presidential election

Revelations first published Wednesday by Al-Monitor have caused an uproar in the upcoming Tunisian presidential election. Al-Monitor reported that an emissary for Tunisian presidential candidate Nabil Karoui had signed a $1 million lobbying contract for US and international help getting elected. Rivals of the media mogul, who is already in jail on unrelated money laundering charges, are demanding that he be disqualified from the Oct. 13 presidential runoff between him and conservative lawyer Kais Saied. One rival, the Democratic Current party, filed a criminal complaint Thursday, calling the contract with Canadian firm Dickens & Madson (Canada) a criminal act. A spokeswoman for the Tunis Court of First Instance today announced the opening of an investigation.

Karoui denies any knowledge of the Aug. 19 contract or the person who signed it, one Mohamed Bouderbala. The contract calls on firm President Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence operative and arms dealer, to lobby the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in view of “attaining the presidency of the Republic of Tunisia.” Ben-Menashe is tasked with striving to “arrange meetings” with US President Donald Trump and other senior US officials ahead of the Tunisian election. The contract also calls on the firm to seek a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to obtain “material support for the push for the presidency.” In a filing with the Justice Department this week, the firm said it received an initial payment of $250,000 around Sept. 25 from Karoui.

Ben-Menashe previously represented Libya’s Tobruk-based House of Representatives as well as Libyan strongman Khalifa Hifter. Earlier this year, the Canadian government asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate him for possible sanctions violations after he signed a $6 million contract with Sudan’s transitional military government. The lobbying controversy is also entangling other Tunisian political actors: The investigation announced today also focuses on the Ennahda party, which has retained Burson-Marsteller (now BCW) for public affairs work in the United States since 2014, as well as parliamentary candidate Olfa Terras-Rambourg, who retained Washington firm America to Africa Consulting in early September.

Ex-attorney general registers as pro bono foreign agent for Iranian opposition group

Michael Mukasey, a former attorney general under President George W. Bush, registered to lobby for the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in late September "on an unpaid basis." However, he will be reimbursed for "direct expenses such as filing costs and travel." The NCRI, which is led by Maryam Rajavi, supports regime change in Iran. Mukasey has long advocated for the NCRI, dating back to before the State Department delisted it as a terrorist group in 2012. Mukasey also represents Qatar via law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, where he is of counsel.

Saudi Arabia pitches itself as tourism destination

Two US newspapers whose editorial boards have condemned the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents ran ads by Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Ministry on the eve of the anniversary of his death. USA Today and the Wall Street Journal both published full-page color ads this week as the kingdom launches a new tourism initiative. Bloomberg ran similar ads in recent days, according to industry ad tracker iSpot.tv, and sponsored content ran in the Financial Times and Lonely Planet.

Meanwhile, Consulum, which was founded by Bell Pottinger alums Tim Ryan and Matthew Bushell, issued press releases for the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage last week as the kingdom expanded its visa program and began pushing out ads marketing the kingdom as a photogenic, Instagrammable travel destination. The PR push comes as Brandon Van Grack, chief of the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) unit, said last week that the law requires both foreign and domestic public relations firms to register under FARA when representing companies, countries and interests trying to influence policy in the United States. A 2011 advisory opinion from the Justice Department says that “tourism activities” on behalf of a foreign government constitute political activity. Consulum has offices in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Monaco, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, according to its website.

Congressional trips

• J Street spent $34,000 on a trip for eight congressional staffers from Democratic offices to Israel and the West Bank from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6.

New contracts

• The Libyan government’s new $1.5 million contract with Gotham Government Relations & Communications, which we wrote about last week, has now been published on the Justice Department’s foreign lobbying website. Brad Gerstman (who was involved in Donald Trump’s 2015 announcement that he would run for president) and Shai Franklin will lobby on the contract. Gerstman and Franklin also lobby for Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund, which is controlled by the Government of National Accord, through the Gerstman Schwartz law firm.
• Nelson Mullins will be paid $230,000 per month under its new contract with Qatar. Former Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., will be the firm’s team leader under the contract, which began Sept. 1.
• Strategic Policy Council has been hired by Crowell & Moring to represent victims of terrorism with judgements against Iran. The lobbying registration was effective Aug. 22. Alex Dahl, the firm’s founder and CEO, will work on the contract. Dahl is a former aide to then-Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is a former assistant US attorney in the District of Columbia.

New hires

• Edelman has added two foreign agents to its Dubai tourism account: Yemiserach Endale and Amaya Starkey.

Terminations

• The Ogilvy Group stopped acting as a foreign agent for the Qatar Foundation on July 12 and is “awaiting payment” for a final invoice. The firm reported being paid $262,000 since it was hired in August 2018. The firm, which reached out to dozens of news organizations to pitch news, information and op-eds relating to the foundation and its CEO Sheikha Hind bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani paid former Ogilvy Group Global Media / Presentation Coach Kellie Mullen’s Kellie Mullen Inc. $9,000 for “corporate messaging coaching.” The firm also disclosed that some employees had stopped working for the foundation before July 12:
  • Public Relations Counsel Kathleen Treganowan stopped working for the foundation March 1;
  • Corporate and Media Influence Vice President Corey Chambliss stopped working for the firm July 3; and
  • Worldwide Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Risi stopped working for the firm May 6.
• SKDKnickerbocker stopped lobbying on behalf of Lebanese national Carlos Ghosn via Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison on July 31. The firm had been lobbying on “issues related to reasonable bail conditions and fair trial on criminal charges in Japan,” where the former CEO of Nissan is accused of under-reporting his earnings and misappropriating the carmaker’s funds. SKD has reported $490,000 in payments since being hired in February. The sole registered agent on the account was Jill Zuckman, the former director of public affairs at the Department of Transportation under Secretary Ray LaHood.
• McDermott Will and Emery stopped representing Qatar as of Sept. 23. Qatar paid the firm $480,000 in 2018. Former Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., had been working on the account along with Anthony DeMaio. Former Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., was on the account until earlier this month, when he was hired by Nelson Mullins, where he continues to represent Qatar.
• Former Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., stopped working as a partner at DLA Piper May 31. He had been a registered foreign agent for the Palestine Monetary Authority.
• Hogan Lovells stopped doing work disclosed under FARA for Jordan’s embassy Aug. 31. The sole registered foreign agent was Jessica Ellsworth, a partner who focuses on litigation before appeals courts and the US Supreme Court. Hogan Lovells received $7,000 from Jordan in the six-month period ending Aug. 31. However, the firm continues to do legal work for Amman.
• Gabriela Zen stopped working for APCO Worldwide June 25. She was a registered foreign agent for Bahrain’s Economic Development Board.

Latest filing

• Saudi Arabia paid Hogan Lovells $330,000 in the six-month period ending Aug. 31. Lobbyists for the firm met with Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., July 15 and 22, and with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., July 26. They also spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on the phone June 13 and Rep. Michael Gallagher, R-Wisc., July 29.
• The United Arab Emirates paid UAE Strategies $570,000 in the six-month period through August. The firm is run by Hagir Elawad, the former congressional affairs director for the UAE Embassy in Washington. Elawad disclosed accompanying Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba to meetings with Reps. Jack Bergman, R-Mich.;  Jason Crow, D-Colo; Chris Stewart, R-Utah; and Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Todd Young, R-Ind. She also accompanied Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to a meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed March 18 in the UAE. Bergman notably led a June push to get Doha-based Al Jazeera listed as a foreign agent for UAE rival Qatar.
• The Iraq Advisory Group, which represents Iraq’s Salahuddin Provincial Council, reported $45,000 in payments during the six months through August. The firm helped set up meetings for council Chairman Ahmad al-Krayem with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran Andrew Peek; Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; US Agency for International Development Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Michael Harvey; US Syria envoy Jim Jeffrey; and National Security Council Director for Iraq Matthew Zais. Therese Tayah, the CEO of the Iraq Advisory Group, signed the contract Feb. 8 but started reaching out to US officials a month earlier.
• Iraqi Sheikh Jamal al-Dhari’s Iraq Stability and Security Program paid former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joel Rubin’s Washington Strategy Group $52,000 in the six-month period ending Aug. 31. Rubin reported meetings with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran Andrew Peek and an aide May 30, and another with James Sauls, a Democratic staffer on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Aug. 1. Rubin also reached out to aides to Reps. David Trone, D-Md., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., to “seek support for [a] future visit” by Dhari.
• DLA Piper was paid $289,000 by the Palestine Monetary Authority in the six-month period ending Aug. 31. Lobbyists from the firm met with Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., April 9, when he still was a Republican, and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., on the same day. They also met with Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs Amanda Pilz and two top officials from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor: Acting Assistant Secretary of State Steven Gillen and Deputy Director Matthew Hickey. DLA Piper also disclosed paying the law office of former Solicitor of Labor George Salem $49,000 (Salem is a strategic adviser at DLA Piper but is not a member or employee of the firm). Separately, DLA Piper disclosed just $280 in expenses under its contract with Bahrain; the firm did not contact any US officials for Manama in the past six months.
• Bahrain’s Economic Development Board paid APCO Worldwide $77,000 in the six-month period ending Aug. 31. The firm arranged interviews to promote Bahrain “as an attractive location for business investment and expansion,” and arranged meetings in San Francisco with representatives from VMWare, Postmates, Zoox, and X (Google’s secret research lab) to promote the country.
• Husch Blackwell Strategies was paid $180,000 by Venable for its Qatar work in the six-month period through August. Representatives of the firm met with Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., and emailed dozens of congressional staffers.
• The US nonprofit Americans for a Free Syria spent $10,000 on in-house lobbying of Congress in the third quarter of 2019. For the first time, the group reported lobbying on “improving monitoring and evaluation of aid.” The group also continued to get co-sponsors for legislation restricting assistance to areas under the control of Bashar al-Assad, advocate for sanctions against war criminals in Syria and encourage the “extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status for Syria.” The group stopped lobbying for sanctions on Iran's “proxy militias for conducting terrorist activity.”
• BGR Government Affairs was paid $60,000 by the Kurdistan Regional Government in the second quarter of 2019. The firm lobbied Congress, Vice President Mike Pence’s office, the State Department and the National Security Council on bilateral US-KRG relations.

Caught our eye

• LobeLog has new details on Arab Gulf countries’ support for the hawkish US group United Against Nuclear Iran, which is close to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
• A California nonprofit has been funding journalists to travel to Syria and write favorable stories about the Bashar al-Assad regime, investigative website Bellingcat reports.
• Supporters of the US nonprofit Safe and Secure America, which advocates for a hawkish line against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, met with more than two dozen lawmakers and US special representative for Syria engagement James Jeffrey during the group’s Leadership and Congressional Outreach Conference Sept. 18-19.
• Facebook announced this week it had removed “multiple pages, groups and accounts that were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.” The firm found links to three marketing firms — Charles Communications in the United Arab Emirates, Flexell in Egypt and MintReach in Nigeria. The accounts lauded the UAE’s first astronaut and the country’s role in Yemen and notably criticized Qatar, Turkey, Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.
• The Donald Trump administration had hired 177 registered lobbyists as of the end of June, the Center for Responsive Politics has found, versus 223 for Barack Obama’s entire two terms.