E&C AIDE DECAMPS FOR K STREET: Michael Taggart, a top aide to retiring House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), is leaving the committee ahead of his boss to join Ferox Strategies as a government affairs director. — Taggart has worked for McMorris Rodgers since 2019, first as her legislative director and most recently as the policy director for the Energy and Commerce Committee. Before that, Taggart spent six years with former Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.). Taggart will register to lobby for clients in the energy, health care, telecom and retail sectors — all subjects under the domain of the powerful E&C committee. — In a statement provided by the firm, McMorris Rodgers praised Taggart’s “vast knowledge and understanding of policy, the political environment, and the legislative process that, collectively, are essential to successfully navigating the current environment.” FIRST IN PI — ATLANTIC COUNCIL SPLITS WITH DONOR: The Atlantic Council terminated its relationship with a major donor, Gaurav Srivastava, after the think tank couldn’t confirm important details of his background in its donor vetting process, Daniel reports. Srivastava and his wife Sharon donated at least $1 million to the think tank for its Global Food Security Forum in Bali in November 2022. — Srivastava last October was the subject of an unflattering profile by the news outlet Project Brazen that suggested misconduct on his part; a lawyer for Srivastava, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told PI that the allegations in the article were “categorically false.” Bradley Hope, a co-author of the story and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, told PI in an email that “we stand by our story.” The termination of the relationship with the Atlantic Council has not been previously reported. — “All funds received by the Atlantic Council from Mr. Srivastava for the Global Food Security Forum were dedicated to and used for the event,” a spokesperson for the Atlantic Council told PI. “We did, however, return funding received from Mr. Srivastava in 2023 for future collaboration.” — “We made the decision to terminate our relationship with Mr. Srivastava in May 2023 upon learning new information because of our donor review process. For example, we learned that The Gaurav & Sharon Srivastava Family Foundation was not an established 501C3 in April of 2023, despite Mr. Srivastava’s representation to the Council that this was a registered foundation,” the spokesperson continued. — Srivasatva’s lawyer said the termination was “related to a gift in respect of a subsequent project, as to which the parties disagreed on the manner of its implementation whereupon $500,000 given in advance was returned.” They said that it’s not a requirement for contributions to the Atlantic Council to come exclusively from 501(c)(3) organizations. DEEP-POCKETED AI DOOMSAYERS TAKE K STREET: “Two nonprofits funded by tech billionaires are now directly lobbying Washington to protect humanity against the alleged extinction risk posed by artificial intelligence — an escalation critics see as a well-funded smokescreen to head off regulation and competition,” our Brendan Bordelon reports. — “The similarly named Center for AI Policy and Center for AI Safety both registered their first lobbyists in late 2023, raising the profile of a sprawling influence battle that’s so far been fought largely through think tanks and congressional fellowships.” — “Each nonprofit spent close to $100,000 on lobbying in the last three months of the year. The groups draw money from organizations with close ties to the AI industry like Open Philanthropy, financed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and Lightspeed Grants, backed by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn.” — “Their message includes policies like CAIP’s call for legislation that would hold AI developers liable for ‘severe harms,’ require permits to develop ‘high-risk’ systems and empower regulators to ‘pause AI projects if they identify a clear emergency.’” — “Until late last year, organizations working to focus Washington on AI’s existential threat tended to operate under the radar. Instead of direct lobbying, groups like Open Philanthropy funded AI staffers in Congress and poured money into key think tanks.” — “The uptick in lobbying work — and the policies CAIP and CAIS are pushing — could directly benefit top AI firms, said Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a professor at Brown University who co-authored a 2022 White House document that focused more on AI’s near-term risks, including its potential to undermine privacy or increase discrimination through biased screening tools” — though CAIP’s executive director disputes those claims. THIS STORY HAS EVERYTHING: “A Democratic consultant who worked for a rival presidential campaign paid a New Orleans magician to use artificial intelligence to impersonate President Joe Biden for a robocall that is now at the center of a multistate law enforcement investigation,” NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald reports. — “Paul Carpenter says he was hired in January by Steve Kramer — who has worked on ballot access for Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips — to use AI software to make the imitation of Biden’s voice urging New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in the state’s presidential primary.” — “The Phillips campaign and the candidate himself expressed outrage when asked about Steve Kramer’s alleged involvement, saying they will never work with him again and may pursue legal action if the allegations are confirmed. NBC News has seen no evidence that the campaign directed Steve Kramer to produce or disseminate the robocall.” CRYPTO PACS GET READY TO STRIKE: “An $80 million cloud of crypto campaign cash is hanging over the battle for Congress,” our Jasper Goodman reports, with this week’s FEC filings offering confirmation “that a trio of affiliated pro-crypto super PACs are poised to be among the top-spending outside groups in this election cycle.” — “The groups — Fairshake, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs — are backed by major industry players including Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz. Defend American Jobs just spent $1.5 million backing West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s Senate run, and Fairshake is starting to flex in California’s Senate primary.” — “As the groups evaluate where else to make it rain, two big opportunities to challenge industry skeptics are emerging thanks to pro-crypto Republican candidates vying to unseat Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown in Ohio. ‘It’s a huge development,’ Club for Growth President David McIntosh said of the crypto-friendly candidates.” KNOWING ERIN HAWLEY: Kathy Gilsinan is out with a new profile for POLITICO Magazine of Erin Hawley, the conservative lawyer married to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) whose legal work for the Alliance Defending Freedom has put her at the center of some of the most consequential abortion cases — and thus, political discourse — in decades. — “[I]n terms of her effect on America, Erin Hawley’s status as a senator’s wife is perhaps the least interesting thing about her. By some accounts, she’s having a greater impact on the law in this country than her lawmaker husband is,” Gilsinan writes. — Erin Hawley’s “many public appearances, writings and interviews with former classmates, colleagues and even critics help illuminate the thinking of a leading figure inside the most important organization battling for religious conservative causes in the courts.” SPOTTED at a happy hour last night at Bobby Van’s to celebrate new Smith-Free Group Vice President Max Becker, per a tipster: Emily Porter of Sidecar Health, Esme Grewal of BrightSpring Health, Evan Sarris of Kroger, Chris Tampio of the American Dental Association, Tom Lehner of Bridgestone, Brenda Becker of Boston Scientific, Ian Mair of GeoComply and Jon Deuser, Bob Hickmott, Mike Gaffin, Trevor Kolego and John Christie of Smith-Free Group.
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