NRA’S TOP LOBBYIST DEPARTS: Jason Ouimet, the head of the National Rifle Association’s lobbying arm and PAC, “told The Reload on Tuesday he is stepping down. Ouimet, who has run the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action and the Political Victory Fund for nearly four years, said he is leaving to join a consulting firm,” Shumaker Advisors, per The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski. — “Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President, said Ouimet is leaving ‘to pursue other opportunities.’ He thanked Ouimet for his service to the NRA and said the group doesn’t have any news on his replacement. ‘We wish Jason all the best with his new endeavors, and know he will continue to be a strong advocate for the Second Amendment,’ LaPierre said in a statement published to social media shortly after The Reload broke the news.” — “The resignation comes as the NRA faces mounting problems that threaten its future. The group has lost more than a million members since accusations of financial impropriety were leveled against LaPierre in 2019, which has led to a dramatic drop in revenue. The same accusations have entangled the group in a years-long legal struggle that could see LaPierre and other NRA leaders removed from their positions.” — “Ouimet was promoted to head of ILA after Chris Cox, the group’s previous top lobbyist, was forced out during a leadership fight in the wake of the corruption allegations. The 2019 internal chaos saw the removal of Cox, then-president Oliver North, and longtime treasurer Woody Phillips among others. — “The organization has shed nearly a dozen dissenting members from its 76-member board of directors and cut hundreds of employees since the fight began, but LaPierre has remained Executive Vice President. … Now it’s losing another key piece of its operation in Ouimet, who had been with the group for nearly 20 years.” BINANCE ENTERS THE D.C. FRAY: The world’s largest crypto exchange would like Washington to know that it knows it’s in trouble, Sam writes in Morning Money. Market regulators across the globe have been circling Binance and its billionaire founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for years. — The Justice Department is reportedly investigating possible violations of sanctions and money laundering rules. As federal agencies move to crack down on lightly regulated crypto markets, Binance — which is roughly five times larger than its nearest competitor by volume — is under pressure. — Even some of the crypto industry’s biggest allies on the Hill are alarmed, and the barrage of damaging headlines and regulatory threats — along with lawmakers’ palpable anxiety over Binance’s market power, which was amplified by Zhao’s role in FTX’s collapse — has finally forced the company to elevate its lobbying presence in Washington. — Binance recently inked its first external lobbying contracts with Hogan Lovells and Ice Miller Strategies — both previously represented Binance.US, a separate exchange owned by Zhao that serves U.S. traders — and also joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a crypto trade association that counts Fidelity Investments, State Street and Visa as members. — Patrick Hillmann, Binance’s chief strategy officer, told Sam the new strategy was an acknowledgement that it could no longer avoid direct engagement in crypto policy battles in Washington. He also conceded that doing so would require owning up to some major mistakes; including that it failed to fully verify the identity of its customers — a basic requirement for any financial company — during its first two years of operation. Hillmann and company spokespeople said those problems have been addressed. — “These inquiries are obviously very serious, but the investigators have been very forward and collaborative. We’re willing to do what is necessary to build back trust in our platform and the industry more broadly,” he said. JENNER & BLOCK ADDS ANOTHER JAN. 6 COMMITTEE STAFFER: White-shoe law firm Jenner & Block has added another alumni of the shuttered House Jan. 6 select committee. Heather Connelly, a former Adam Schiff aide who helped with the panel’s depositions and worked with members to draft their lines of questioning, will be a senior policy adviser in Jenner’s government controversies practice group and chief of staff to firm Chair Tom Perrelli. — Connelly is the latest in a stream of former Jan. 6 staffers to land at major law and lobbying firms around town, which have been preparing clients for months for House Republicans’ ramped up oversight agenda and must now also contend with Senate Democrats’ newly obtained subpoena powers. — Connelly is at least the fourth former Jan. 6 aide to land at Jenner & Block. Marcus Childress, an investigative counsel on the panel, joined the firm in November, and the committee’s special litigation counsel Michelle Kallen joined in August. Committee staff assistant DJ Williams joined the firm as a practice assistant at the end of last year, according to his LinkedIn. — Jenner also recently hired Josh Hsu, a former counsel to Vice President Kamala Harris, and lured Emily Loeb back to co-chair the government controversies practice after serving as associate deputy attorney general in the Biden administration. — “It was a pleasure to work with Connelly while serving the Committee and I’m thrilled that she has joined Jenner & Block,” Childress said in a statement, adding that Connelly’s “knowledge of the Hill and national policy environment will be an asset to clients as they navigate the quickly evolving legislative landscape at the federal and state level.” IF YOU MISSED IT OVER THE LONG WEEKEND: “Months before Republicans took back the House last fall, high-profile MAGA activists were preparing a power move,” Grid’s Maggie Severns, Steve Reilly and Anna Deen report. — The right-wing think tank Conservative Partnership Institute has dropped “tens of millions of dollars on a real-estate-buying spree to create ‘an expansive campus of buildings’ in the heart of the nation’s capital and to operate an exclusive, luxe retreat on Maryland’s Eastern Shore where right-wing activists and lawmakers can hunt wildlife, play tennis and devise ways to ‘save this country from the leftist onslaught.’” — “Though former president Donald Trump’s own political future is in doubt, the Conservative Partnership Institute, whose leaders include ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump elections lawyer Cleta Mitchell and former Tea Party senator Jim DeMint, is pursuing an aggressive expansion.” — “The group appears to be quietly buying up properties, often in off-market transactions, Grid has found — apparently using a network of anonymous shell companies registered in Delaware to conduct the purchases.” — “In all, Grid traced nine D.C. properties purchased in the past 14 months by seven LLCs sporting bland monikers like Clear Plains, Hudson and Newpoint. A CPI executive is listed on paperwork for the entities, and the locations of most of the property purchases correspond with CPI’s ‘Patriot’s Row’ plans. CPI bought Camp Rydin, which comprises 2,200 acres near Cambridge, Maryland, for over $7 million, apparently using the entity ‘Federal Investors, LLC,’ the purchaser listed on state property records.”
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