Former Qatar Lobbyist Pam Bondi Approves Jet Deal

Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former lobbyist for Qatar and principal at a lobbying firm for L3Harris

By David Moore, Donald Shaw, readsludge.com

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Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former lobbyist for Qatar and principal at a lobbying firm for L3Harris, has given the go-ahead for President Trump to accept Qatar's gift of a $400 million luxury jet, a deal that will benefit both the foreign nation and the defense contractor

Last week, Bondi issued a legal memo arguing that the jet gift is legally permissible because ownership will be transferred to Trump's Presidential LIbrary Foundation before the end of his term, according to ABC News. The jet will be used by Trump as a new Air Force One.

The U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause generally forbids officials like Trump from accepting gifts from foreign nationals, making Bondi's approval suspect. "Trump's plan to accept a luxury plane from Qatar is blatantly unconstitutional, a textbook violation of the emoluments clause," said Public CItizen's Robert Weissman. "The concern with foreign gifts is that they can sway a president's policy and predilections — and there's little doubt that Qatar wants to gift Trump a 'palace in the sky' for exactly that reason."

Bondi, a former partner at the lobbying firm Ballard Partners, first registered to lobby for Qatar in July 2019, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings. Disclosures indicate that her lobbying for the country focused on human trafficking issues. After taking a leave in November 2019 to defend Trump during his first impeachment trial, she resumed lobbying for Qatar in 2020, a period during which human rights organizations like Amnesty International were accusing the country of labor abuses of migrant workers involving its preparations for hosting the 2022 World Cup. Bondi was named as key personnel on Ballard Partners' Qatar contract, meaning she was personally and substantially engaged in the lobbying, for which the firm was paid $115,000 per month.

The Department of Defense and the U.S. government have contracted with L3Harris to refit the Boeing 747 jet, which was previously used by the Qatari government, according to the Wall Street Journal. L3Harris hired Ballard Partners last year to lobby at the federal level, as noted on Bluesky by OpenSecrets' communications director David Meyers. According to federal disclosures, Ballard Partners began lobbying for L3Harris on May 2024 and has focused on "business development and procurement."

Trump is headed to visit Qatar next week, on a trip during which he will also visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE. One of the president's family companies recently signed a deal to build a golf course and luxury villas on Qatar's eastern coast, to be constructed by a Saudi Arabian company. "So it just raises this larger question of: Is he taking action in the best interest of the American people, or his company?," asked Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), in the Washington Post.

The Department of Defense and the U.S. government have contracted with L3Harris to refit the Boeing 747 jet that was previously used by the Qatari government, according to the Wall Street Journal. David Meyers, communications director for the nonprofit OpenSecrets, noted on social media that L3Harris hired Ballard Partners last year to lobby at the federal level. The firm registered to lobby in May 2024 for L3Harris on issues of "business development and procurement." Scores of companies signed up with the Trump-aligned firm of Brian Ballard, a top Trump campaign fundraiser, to lobby the government after Trump's election win.

On her first day in office as U.S. attorney general, Bondi issued a memo that scaled back enforcement of FARA violations by narrowing the DOJ's focus to traditional espionage, focusing its application to potential cases of political corruption and criminal prosecutions.

Qatar has a deep roster of FARA agents who it pays to lobby in Washington D.C., placing the country comfortably among the top 10 spenders in total FARA spending since 2016, Last year, Qatar paid Moran Global Strategies nearly $1.9 million for lobbying, a firm founded by former Rep. James P. "Jim" Moran (D-Va.), according to OpenSecrets.

In 2023, Moran Global Strategies hired former Trump administration official Dwayne Bolton as its first Republican lobbyist. The former Energy Department employee, who previously worked for House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), joined the firm as vice president and lobbied for Qatar.

During the previous administration, Moran's firm lobbied for Qatar on advancing bilateral relations with the U.S., mentioning in 2023 the issues of "Qatar's role in mediation between Hamas and Israel," "Qatar's role in hostage negotiation," and "Defense appropriations bill impact on Middle East Conflict," among others.

Global marketing agency Finn Partners was paid nearly as much last year for influence work for Qatar. The bipartisan firms BGR Government Affairs and Mercury Public Affairs, the latter of which recently employed as a lobbyist the current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, lobbied for Qatar last year.

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