HOW K STREET SEES THE NEXT FEW MONTHS SHAKING OUT: “It has been an eventful few weeks in the political world,” Hogan Lovells lobbyists wrote in a memo to clients on Wednesday that lays out their thinking on what August and September will look like for Washington. (PI fact check: true.) — The firm, whose clients include Binance.US, Nissan, the tech-backed Computer & Communications Industry Association, T-Mobile, Walmart, Airbus and more, predicts that “for the next week (or two), all eyes in Washington will be on Senate Democrats” and Sinema in particular, with a final vote to pass the reconciliation bill coming this weekend or next week before heading home for the August recess. — Things will pick back up in September with work to avert a government shutdown likely resulting in a continuing resolution that will punt the issue until after the midterms, Senate passage of the NDAA and potentially a Senate vote on the pair of antitrust bills Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been pushing off a vote on for months (Schumer’s office told POLITICO this afternoon that he plans to bring at least one of the bills up for a vote ). — “We are skeptical the legislation has the 60 votes it needs to pass,” the firm said, “but Senator [ Amy] Klobuchar continues to charge hard and Senator Schumer could allow for a short procedural vote on her bill.” — Further crowding the calendar will be a slate of judicial and executive branch nominees as Senate Democrats look to fill as many vacancies as possible with future control of the chamber up in the air come November. KNOWING SBF: “One of the biggest donors in Democratic politics this year isn’t sure if he really wants to be a Democratic megadonor — at least not on the party’s terms,” POLITICO’s Elena Schneider writes in a profile of FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried reported from the Bahamas. — “The 30-year-old, who has amassed an estimated $20 billion fortune over the last four years through cryptocurrency, drives a hybrid Toyota Corolla. A monk-like aesthetic extends from his clothes — he showed up to chat in a wrinkled T-shirt and beat-up New Balance sneakers — to his personal life. He shares a penthouse with about 10 roommates and cooks for himself. He still uses his parents’ Netflix account. When he lobbies in Washington, D.C., he’ll often crash on his brother’s couch.” — “The head-spinning speed of Bankman-Fried’s entrance onto the national political scene kicked off a race in Washington to understand him and define him — as a potential Democratic savior, a head-scratching mystery or, occasionally, a corrupt crypto bogeyman.” — “Candidates, consultants and members of Congress are all eager to direct the millions he’s spending. And Bankman-Fried seemingly wandered into the middle of the Democratic Party and pulled out his wallet at the exact moment when many Democratic megadonors are pulling back, all ahead of a blistering midterm environment.” IT’S NOT ALL SEIZING YACHTS: “In the five months since the U.S. Department of Justice launched a task force to seize Russian oligarchs' assets to pressure Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, prosecutors also have targeted something less tangible ,” Reuters’ Luc Cohen reports: Russia's influence. — “Prosecutors in that period have charged five Russians with acting on the Kremlin's behalf without registering as foreign agents, as the Justice Department broadly ramps up enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and a related law known by its code number, 951. FARA and 951 let prosecutors go after broader activity - such as lobbying or running media campaigns - than espionage statutes, which focus on agents seeking classified or military information, experts said.” — “Since 2018, the United States has accused 52 people - including Russian, Chinese and American citizens - of violating or conspiring to violate FARA, 951 or both, according to a Reuters analysis of Justice Department statements and records from seven major district courts. In the prior six-year period, just 13 people were charged under those laws, the analysis shows.” ICYMI WEDNESDAY — MICROSOFT FLEW OUT HILL STAFFERS: “As Big Tech was lobbying to keep the Senate from passing antitrust legislation, Microsoft flew dozens of congressional staffers out to Washington for a multi-day visit with its lobbyists and executives,” Sludge’s Donald Shaw reports. — “During the event, held June 29 through July 1, the staffers met Microsoft’s senior director of government affairs, Alli Halataei, according to gift travel disclosures filed with the Senate and House. Halataei is one of the lobbyists the company reports as having held discussions with members of the House and Senate on antitrust issues, according to its lobbying disclosure for the second quarter of this year.” — “In particular, the disclosure indicates that Halataei lobbied on the Open App Markets Act and the American Choice and Innovation Online Act (ACIOA), the two antitrust bills that passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year but are being held back from floor votes by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for unknown reasons.” — Shaw notes that the staffers’ trips closely preceded a visit from Schumer himself, where the majority leader reportedly met with Microsoft President Brad Smith to discuss the bills, one of which Microsoft supports , according to FedScoop. FDA’S REVOLVING DOOR: “The departure of the head of the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco science office for a job in the tobacco industry shines a new spotlight on a long-running problem : the ‘revolving door’ between government regulators and the industries they police,” reports Grid’s Dan Vergano. — “Matt Holman , whose work at the FDA influenced decisions around the safety of products such as e-cigarettes, left the agency Tuesday for a job with Philip Morris International, whose products — sold overseas — include Marlboro cigarettes and the electronic tobacco-delivery system IQOS.” — The outlet analyzed data from LinkedIn profiles, which found at least 2,700 former FDA employees “now work for the pharmaceutical industry. Another 1,100 current FDA employees have moved the other way, from industry to the agency, according to the profile information.”
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