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lobbyists
Bondi's First Acts as AG Curb Enforcement of Foreign Lobbying and Corporate Misconduct Laws
"These changes are an invitation to foreign actors to interfere in American affairs," warned one former DOJ prosecutor. "Even worse, it's an invitation to Americans to help them do it."
Feb 06, 2025
On her first day in office Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi—a former lobbyist for foreign governments and wealthy special interests that have come under scrutiny by the Department of Justice she now leads—dissolved teams tasked with investigating foreign lobbying and threats posed by corporate misconduct.
Bondi signed 14 directives on Wednesday, including measures to revive enforcement of the federal death penalty, investigate Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who prosecuted President Donald Trump, defund sanctuary cities, and end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and programs.
She also issued a memo disbanding the Foreign Influence Task Force and limiting criminal enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) "to instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors."
Aaron Zelinsky, a former DOJ national security prosecutor, toldBloomberg Law that "taken together, these changes are an invitation to foreign actors to interfere in American affairs."
"Even worse, it's an invitation to Americans to help them do it," he added.
🚨NEWS: AG Pam Bondi just issued an order limiting enforcement of anti-corruption laws regulating foreign government lobbyists trying to influence Trump officials. Bondi was a foreign agent for Qatar & her old firm lobbies for foreign governments.
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— David Sirota (@davidsirota.com) February 6, 2025 at 9:54 AM
As Sludge's Donald Shaw noted Thursday:
Bondi is a former foreign agent herself. In 2019, the lobbying firm Ballard Partners registered through FARA to work for the government of Qatar to provide "advocacy services relative to U.S.-Qatar bilateral relations, [including] guidance and assistance in matters related to combating human trafficking." Bondi was designated one of the key personnel on the Qatar contract, for which Ballard Partners was paid $115,000 per month.
Ballard Partners, where Bondi was employed until her confirmation, is currently registered to work as a foreign agent lobbyist for Japan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the FARA database. In her ethics agreement with the Office of Government Ethics, Bondi pledged that she would not "participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which I know Ballard Partners is a party."
By restricting FARA enforcement to traditional espionage, Bondi is narrowing the application of a law that has been used for prominent political corruption investigations and prosecutions. Last year, the Department of Justice charged Democratic House Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) with taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent of Azerbaijan, and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez [N.J.] was convicted and sentenced to 11 years for bribery and conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Egypt."
Bondi issued another memo Wednesday reorienting the DOJ Criminal Division's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit to "prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the criminal operations of cartels and [transnational criminal organizations], and shift focus away from investigations and cases that do not involve such a connection."
Another eyebrow-raising memo from Bondi demanded "zealous advocacy" of Trump's policy agenda by DOJ attorneys, whom she falsely called "his lawyers."
"It is the job of an attorney privileged to serve in the Department of Justice to zealously defend the interests of the United States," she wrote. "Those interests, and the overall policy of the United States, are set by the nation's chief executive, who is vested by the Constitution with all executive power."
This is an absolutely remarkable memo — and a betrayal of both the Constitution and the American political tradition. In the US, by *explicit contrast* with interwar fascist governments, the state is not supposed to be an extension of the personality of the chief executive.
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— Noah Rosenblum ( @narosenblum.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reacting to that memo, MSNBC legal analyst and former Florida state's attorney Katie Phang wrote on the social media site Bluesky that "lawyers still have ethical obligations that stand separate and apart from what a client wants them to do."
Law Dork publisher Chris Geidner summed up the memo as a warning to "accept and defend Donald Trump's policies, or you might be fired."
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Trump Picks Corporate Lobbyist for Key Tax Policy Role
Ken Kies has a client list that includes Microsoft, which stands to benefit from the president-elect's proposed corporate tax cut to the tune of $4 billion per year.
Jan 03, 2025
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced late Thursday that he has chosen a longtime corporate lobbyist and Republican donor to serve as assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department as GOP lawmakers prepare to craft another massive giveaway to the rich and major companies.
Ken Kies is currently managing director of the Federal Policy Group, a lobbying firm that was hired last year by Microsoft, the Cruise Lines International Association, the American Automotive Leasing Association, and other corporate interests. If Trump and the incoming Republican Congress succeed in lowering the corporate tax rate to 15%, Microsoft would receive an annual tax break of $4 billion, according to one analysis.
Kies' profile on the Federal Policy Group's website touts the "significant legislative and regulatory results" he has delivered for his clients, "which include major corporations, trade associations, and coalitions of companies with common objectives."
"Mr. Kies has led coalition efforts to enact legislation responding to the World Trade Organization's ruling against U.S. foreign sales corporation benefits, to avert enactment of broad 'corporate tax shelter' legislation that would have an adverse impact on legitimate business transactions, and to reverse Treasury regulations targeting 'hybrid' arrangements of U.S. multinational corporations, among other projects," the profile continues.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kies would work alongside billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent—Trump's pick to lead the Treasury Department—as the second Trump administration pursues an extension of regressive 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, as well as another rate cut for corporations.
The Washington Postreported Thursday that Republicans are planning to offset some of the enormous projected cost of the proposed tax package with tariffs, cuts to federal nutrition assistance, and work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The GOP is also pushing to eliminate the Education Department, roll back clean energy programs, and prevent Medicare from covering obesity treatments.
In addition to Kies, Trump said Thursday that he has selected Samantha Schwab to serve as deputy chief of staff at the Treasury Department. Schwab is the granddaughter of billionaire investor Charles Schwab, who donated $1 million to Trump's 2017 inaugural fundraising committee, according toBloomberg.
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The Biggest Delegation at Plastic Treaty Talks? Plastic Industry Lobbyists
"Allowing fossil fuel and petrochemical companies to exert their influence in these negotiations is like letting foxes guard the henhouse," said one campaigner.
Nov 27, 2024
At the fifth and final session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to finalize a global plastics treaty in Busan, South Korea, one anti-pollution campaigner noted on Wednesday that "waste pickers, Indigenous peoples, youth leaders, and frontline community members have left their families to travel thousands of miles to be here, not to protect their business interests, but because they are fighting for survival."
But a new analysis from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) raises questions about how marginalized communities fighting plastic pollution will ensure their voices aren't drowned out by the fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists in attendance.
"The fact that they are forced to compete for the ear of their representatives with the very industry that is poisoning their communities is a serious injustice," said Ana Rocha, director of the global plastics program at the Global Alliance for Incinerators Alternatives.
CIEL's analysis finds that more lobbyists with a vested interest in continuing plastic production are attending the talks, with 220 fossil fuel and chemical lobbyists represented.
That number makes the industries the biggest delegation at the negotiations, where advocates are pushing for a final treaty that includes legally binding caps on plastic production—not just provisions dictating plastic waste management, which the industry has promoted.
Under the status quo, plastic production is set to triple by 2060. Approximately 460 million tonnes of plastics are currently produced each year.
From 2000-19, plastic waste more than doubled to 353 million tonnes, and only 9% was recycled, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
According to more than 900 independent scientists who signed a declaration demanding an ambitious plastics treaty aimed at ending plastic pollution by 2040, improvements in waste management alone cannot protect the planet and public health from pollution.
But in Busan, industry lobbyists outnumber representatives of the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty by 3-to-1.
Only 89 delegates represent the Pacific small island developing states, where the average waste generation per person is 48% higher than the global average due to heavy reliance on packaged imports.
The entire Latin American and Caribbean region has only 165 delegates, and the European Union and its member states combined sent 191 delegates.
Sixteen countries—China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia—have included plastic industry lobbyists within their official delegations.
"Allowing fossil fuel and petrochemical companies to exert their influence in these negotiations is like letting foxes guard the henhouse," said Von Hernandez, global coordinator for Break Free From Plastic. "Their oversized presence threatens to turn a critical environmental agreement into a charade, undermining serious efforts to curb plastic production and pollution. Government negotiators must stand firm and ensure these talks are not hijacked by those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo."
CIEL noted that with each Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting, it has observed an increase in the number of fossil fuel and petrochemical industry lobbyists included in the talks. Environmental scientists have reported intimidation and harassment by lobbyists at the meetings.
The oil and gas industry watchdog group Fieldnotes published a report last week showing that in addition to sending lobbyists to Busan, the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) has embarked on a yearslong campaign to mislead consumers about the recyclability of disposable plastic products. The coordinated effort has included an infomercial hosted by actor Dennis Quaid and paid deals with TikTok influencers who repeat industry talking points in their videos.
"We have watched industry lobbyists surrounding the negotiations with sadly well-known tactics of obstruction, distraction, intimidation, and misinformation," said Delphine Levi Alvares, global petrochemical campaign coordinator at CIEL, on Wednesday. "Their strategy—lifted straight from the climate negotiations playbook—is designed to preserve the financial interests of countries and companies who are putting their fossil-fueled profits above human health, human rights, and the future of the planet."
"The mandate for this treaty is very clear: ending plastic pollution. Ever-growing evidence from independent scientists, frontline communities, and Indigenous peoples clearly shows that this won't be achieved without reducing plastic production," she added. "The choice is clear: our lives or their bottom line."
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