WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 19, 2022)—Tony Podesta has registered to lobby on behalf of a foreign government for the first time since his powerhouse lobbying firm, Podesta Group, collapsed amid scrutiny from then-special counsel Robert Mueller, new documents filed with the Justice Department show.
Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta, stepped down in 2019 and worked in art deals.
Podesta is a steadfast Democrat, known for his campaigning and fundraising skills as well as his lobbying clout. His former wife, Heather Podesta, is also a prominent lobbyist, including working in Ukraine as a campaign operative.
— The former Democratic K Street fixture will work for the Libyan government as a subcontractor to Dubai consulting firm Tala Elemary Consulting Middle East to push for “fair elections and stability in Libya.”
— That work will include facilitating meetings with the White House and broader Biden administration, as well as congressional officials and the media, “to substantiate and reinforce relationships between the Client and leaders of the US Government Executive and Legislative Branches,” and serve the “dual purpose of maintaining political gains for the Libyan Government and advancing stability in Libya to foster agreement on a constitutional basis for elections in 2022,” according to a copy of the contract filed with DOJ. The contract notes that the parties are still negotiating the price of the arrangement.
Podesta, of course, returned to K Street last summer under the new firm Podesta.com after stepping away from lobbying for much of the Trump administration. He registered to lobby on behalf of the blacklisted Chinese telecom giant Huawei and the Bulgarian oil and gas company Protos Energy SSC, and in January, nanotech manufacturer Quantum Materials Corp. hired him to lobby on “issues related to federal pharmaceutical evaluation processes and contracting issues,” according to a filing.
— Podesta reported taking in $1 million to lobby the West Wing on Huawei’s behalf since last year, though according to a disclosure filed Monday performed less than $5,000 worth of work for the company through the first three months of 2022. Protos Energy, meanwhile, paid Podesta $500,000 for no registrable work in Q3 2021, and less than $5,000 to lobby the State Department on “issues related to energy and petrochemicals” in each of the two quarters after that, before terminating the contract last month.
— The documents filed with DOJ this week for the first time shed light on who else is working at Podesta’s new firm. Elizabeth Demaree of Baltimore and Helen Hagerty of D.C. registered to work on the Libya account under the Podesta.com moniker, listing titles of vice president of global policy and communications and chief of staff, respectively.
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Source: Politico wrote the original article.
