DOJ appeals Wynn ruling

From: POLITICO Influence - Monday Dec 12,2022 11:17 pm

Dec 12, 2022

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With Daniel Lippman

DOJ APPEALS WYNN RULING: The Justice Department is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of its lawsuit seeking to compel casino magnate and Republican fundraiser Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent of Beijing, according to a notice filed Friday.

— The notice of appeal came a day after DOJ counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt shed some light on the department’s thinking about the case in remarks to FARA attorneys. Bratt’s first public comments on the case conceded that the October ruling from U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg did in fact appear to limit the department in pursuing lawsuits to force some retroactive FARA registrations.

— Boasberg had expressed reservations with his own ruling in the Wynn case, which suggested that long-standing appeals court precedent bars DOJ from requiring foreign agents to retroactively register once they are no longer performing that work and included a painstaking syntactical analysis of the statute in question.

— Bratt did not rule out a legislative fix to address the precedent set forth in a 1987 opinion by the D.C. Circuit Court. But he also noted that “litigation risks” in federal court in D.C. would not preclude DOJ from “proceeding” in the jurisdiction, saying earlier that Boasberg was “just one judge” whose own analysis expressing concerns with the appeals court precedent could indeed become a blueprint for DOJ arguments in similar cases.

FIRST IN PI — LUNA+EISENLA EXPANDS IN-HOUSE OFFERINGS: Strategic media communications firm LUNA+EISENLA has added three new faces to its staff and is broadening its offerings to include digital marketing, creative and content development, audience research and analytics in its first major expansion since launching a decade ago this month.

— The firm has hired Elizabeth Curwen as director of content, Sean Todd as creative director and Riah Gonzales-King as director of digital strategies. Brad Luna, one of LUNA+EISENLA’s founding partners, has also relocated to Chicago, expanding the firm’s geographic reach along with its in-house creative offerings.

— The additions stem from demand from the firm’s clients, which have included Comcast-NBCUniversal, Tufts University, the National Association for the Self-Employed, the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association, the Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice and more, and reflect an evolution in the the strategic comms landscape toward more digital and online content, firm co-founder Kristofer Eisenla told PI.

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ACROSS THE POND: Brussels was rocked this weekend by a ballooning corruption scandal that saw the arrest of a European Parliament vice president and several others as part of an investigation into an alleged illicit influence campaign by Qatar.

— “The scandal is turning into a major test of accountability for the European Parliament, and particularly lawmakers from the Socialists & Democrats group,” our colleagues in Europe report in a live blog chronicling the latest developments.

— “Much attention is being focused on MEPs and other officials who praised Qatar for labor reforms rather than condemning workers’ rights in the Gulf emirate and dangerous conditions during stadium construction” for the ongoing World Cup.

— More than a dozen raids “by the Belgian federal police between Friday and Monday have netted six arrests — with four people still in detention. The searches have yielded roughly €1 million in cash, plus phones and computers. Qatar denies any involvement.”

WHICH MEGADONORS AREN’T DESERTING TRUMP: The super PAC backing former President Donald Trump’s third bid for the White House “has quietly amassed a small group of megadonors that could be key to financing their efforts to bolster his 2024 campaign,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports, even as several of Trump’s previous high-dollar supporters have said they’re out this time around.

— “Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC run by former Trump aides and allies, recently raised over $40 million, mostly from a massive donation from Trump’s PAC, Save America, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. Yet, the latest disclosure, which shows fundraising for the super PAC from Oct. 20 through Nov. 28, also lists nine other individual contributions totaling over $900,000.”

— “A separate FEC filing showing donations from earlier in October lists seven donations from six business leaders and one corporation totaling more than $3 million in support for MAGA Inc. Wealthy businessman Timothy Mellon contributed $1.5 million to the super PAC on Oct. 5, according to the records.”

— “The recent big individual donation, outside the $40 million from Save America in November, was a $500,000 contribution from BPH Properties, an Alabama-based business run by real estate titan Luther S. Pate, IV,” who financed an anti-Trump super PAC in 2016 but more recently met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort days before the contribution.

— Other donors included an LLC called Splitco Holdings, whose address matches that of the conglomerate run by Houston Rockets and Landry’s owner Tilman Fertitta; Goodman Company founder Murray Goodman, who gave $10,000 in late October reportedly to help boost Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker, and recycling executive Anthony Lomangino.

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AKIN TAPS FORMER VIRGINIA AG TO GROW PRACTICE: Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to help the firm boost its state attorneys general practice. Herring will co-lead the practice alongside Martine Cicconi, who is re-joining the firm after serving as Virginia’s deputy solicitor general and in the Biden White House counsel’s office.

— “If you look at investigational and litigation trends, as well as the growing number of public policy issues, you see a lot more appetite for action and involvement by state AGs” amid gridlock in Washington, Herring said in an interview, pointing also to massive settlements secured by state attorneys general in recent investigations.

— Part of the practice, he told PI, will entail helping clients navigate more aggressive state AG offices. “It could be litigation, it could be investigations, there could be a congressional investigation and parallel state AG investigations,” Herring said. “Being able to bring the kind of experience that I have had over the last eight years in working in the AG space to help them understand all of those different facets, and how best to navigate through that successfully is, I think, where this practice can really take off and grow.”

INSIDE LIV GOLF: The New York Times’ Alan Blinder and Sarah Hurtes got their hands on confidential documents detailing the steep challenges that the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf league faces for success, assessments that “experts say … make clear that Saudi Arabia, with a golf investment of least $2 billion, has aspirations beyond the financial.”

— “‘The margins might be thin, but that doesn’t really matter,’ said Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris. ‘Because subsequently you’re establishing the legitimacy of Saudi Arabia — not just as an event host or a sporting powerhouse, but legitimate in the eyes of decision makers and governments around the world.’”

— “The documents represent the most complete account to date of the financial assumptions underpinning LIV Golf. One of the most significant was prepared by consultants with McKinsey & Company, which has advised the kingdom’s leaders since the 1970s.”

— The consultancy “analyzed the finances of a potential golf league, but pointedly said in its report that it was not examining whether it was a strategically viable idea. And many of Saudi Arabia’s rosy assumptions, McKinsey added, ‘have been taken for granted and not been challenged in our assessment.’”

ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: “At least $73 million of political donations tied to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX may be at risk of being clawed back as bankruptcy lawyers sort through the remnants of his crypto empire in search of assets to repay creditors,” Bloomberg’s Laura Davison, Bill Allison and Allyson Versprille report.

— “The wide-ranging contributions from Bankman-Fried and two of his top lieutenants, Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh, include more than $6 million to a super political action committee for House Democrats, $3.5 million for the GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund and $3 million for a fund that backs Senate Democrats.”

— “It’s another layer to the fallout from FTX’s implosion. Just a few months ago, Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of the crypto exchange, had pledged to give as much as $1 billion in the 2024 presidential election cycle and was touted by his supporters as the next George Soros. Salame had been donating to Republicans at almost the same pace as Steve Schwarzman and Peter Thiel.”

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Jobs Report

— Phil Kiko has joined Williams & Jensen as a principal. He’s currently president of KikoStrategies and was previously chief administrative officer in the House.

— Ross Shapiro has joined Twilio as regional vice president for the U.S. public sector. He previously led the U.S. West public sector district for state, local and higher education and regional partner teams at NetApp.

— The Cigar Association of America has promoted Dan Cotter to vice president of finance and operations.

— Leanne Politi is joining The Martin Group as a public affairs supervisor. She was formerly executive director of communications at Hinman Straub.

— Tré Easton will be the new legislative director for Sen.-elect John Fetterman. He was most recently with New Strategies and is a Patty Murray and Obama administration alum.

— Sharon Yang is joining the White House Counsel’s Office as deputy communications adviser, where she’ll be a spokeswoman on oversight issues. She is a Building Back Together, Kamala Harris, Jon Ossoff and Tim Kaine alum.

— Warwick Sabin is now vice president of public affairs and communications at Interfaith America. He most recently has been executive director of strategic engagement at the Aspen Institute, and is a former Arkansas state legislator.

— Dezenhall Resources is adding Patrick Burgwinkle as vice president (previously at the DSCC), Annie Moore as senior director of digital (previously at the Republican State Leadership Committee), Mark Emerson as director (previously at Proof Strategies), and Kaci Donegan as associate, and shifting Eric Dezenhall to chair, Steven Schlein to CEO, and Fred Brown and Mike Bova to senior vice presidents.

— Dan Crawford is now vice president for public affairs at SKDK. He previously was national press secretary and director of campaign communications at the Hub Project.

— Tahra Jirari is joining Bullpen Strategy Group as media relations director. She previously was a communications associate at the Niskanen Center.

— Cat Hamilton has started government tech company Demand Signal Inc. She most recently was vice president of government affairs at American Defense International, and is a Henry Cuellar alum.

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

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New PACs

Americanism (Super PAC)
Families for Prison Reform PAC (Super PAC)
YE24 for Reparations (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Nst Global LLC
Capitol Counsel LLC: The Pnc Financial Services Group, Inc.
Invariant LLC: Ligado Networks LLC
Ralph Johnson: Kiril Domuschiev
The Mckeon Group, Inc.: Gap Labor, LLC
The Prenda Group LLC: Anthem One, Inc

New Lobbying Terminations

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP: The Commercial Energy Working Group

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