Meet the lobbyists who gave to Trump Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With Sarah Cammarata and Daniel Lippman

MEET THE LOBBYISTS WHO GAVE TO TRUMP: Many Republican lobbyists aren’t exactly enamored with President Donald Trump, but his reelection campaign still scored some checks from K Street during the second quarter, according to a Federal Election Commission report filed on Monday. Among those who gave: Marc Lampkin of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Dan Murphy of BGR Group, Christine Pellerin of the Normandy Group and Mark Smith of the Da Vinci Group. All of them gave the maximum contribution of $5,600 except for Smith, who came close. And Jeff Miller of Miller Strategies reported bundling more than $111,000 on behalf of Trump Victory, the campaign’s joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee.

— Most of the leading Democratic candidates, meanwhile, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, have sworn off contributions from registered lobbyists. But some of the lesser-known Democratic candidates are accepting them. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), for instance, who filed his first presidential campaign finance report since entering the race, snagged contributions from Sean D’Arcy of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Jenny DiJames of Alignment Government Strategies, former Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) of King & Spalding, Omar Nashashibi of the Franklin Partnership and Jocelyn Lowe of the Twenty-First Century Group.

WHO’S BANKROLLING TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN: More than a dozen donors gave the maximum contribution of $360,000 to Trump Victory, including “Marlene Ricketts, who helped to bankroll the multimillion-dollar effort to stop Trump from winning the 2016 Republican nomination,” POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt reports. “Since then, the Ricketts clan has become supportive of the president, with Ricketts' son, Todd, serving as [the Republican National Committee’s] finance chairman. The roster of max-out givers also included Linda McMahon, the former WWE executive who this spring stepped down from her post as head of the Small Business Administration to chair the principal pro-Trump super PAC.”

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A message from the Consumer Brands Association: America’s recycling system just got an abysmal review – at a time when we need it most. Only 11% of respondents of our latest poll said the recycling system is doing its best. With more plastic waste in the wake of COVID-19, it’s time to fix this mounting problem.

MORE SECOND-QUARTER FUNDRAISING ANALYSIS: “Eleven Democratic presidential candidates — nearly half of the sprawling field — spent more campaign cash than they raised in the second quarter of the year, according to new financial disclosures filed Monday,” POLITICO’s David Siders, Zach Montellaro and Scott Bland report. “Eight contenders active in the spring limped forward with less than $1 million in cash on hand, and several top-tier contenders were already spending multiples of what their lower-profile competitors raised.”

— “The financial squeeze is set to drastically shrink the lineup of Democratic contenders in the coming months, barring major shifts in momentum, as candidates grapple with the doldrums of summer fundraising and the high costs of staffing national campaigns and building donor lists big enough to qualify for future Democratic National Committee debates.”

WARREN GOES AFTER ESPER: Warren (D-Mass.) "on Tuesday slammed President Donald Trump’s pick to be Defense secretary, Mark Esper, for his ties to defense contractor Raytheon," POLITICO's Connor O'Brien reports. "In a heated exchange at a Senate Armed Services [Committee] confirmation hearing, Warren — a Democratic presidential contender — criticized Esper for not committing to extend for his entire tenure at the Pentagon his recusal from issues involving Raytheon, where he worked as a top lobbyist."

MEHLMAN'S LATEST: It's worth reading the latest briefing compiled by Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas for the edited image of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sitting on the Iron Throne alone. Stay for the analysis of four scenarios: what might happen if Democrats nominate a relative moderate presidential candidate and win, what happens if they nominate a relative moderate and lose, what happens if they nominate a progressive and win and what happens if they nominate a progressive and lose.

INSIDE FACEBOOK’S LIBRA LOBBYING TROUBLES: POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt has new details about Facebook’s struggle to sell lawmakers on its Libra cryptocurrency project. “With back-to-back Senate and House hearings set to kick off Tuesday morning, key lawmakers and aides from both parties said in interviews that they had not yet had the chance to meet with Facebook or had gotten incomplete, at times conflicting, information from briefings involving the company.”

— “The rollout of the Libra project is the latest evidence that Facebook is still struggling to wield influence in both Washington and in the European Union after being dogged by controversies about its data privacy practices and role in facilitating election interference. … ‘We just need more information,’ said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who said on Thursday he had not met with Facebook on Libra even though he chairs a new financial technology task force in the House. ‘We're caught off guard.’”

FLYING IN: The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is in town this week for a fly-in, with meetings scheduled with the offices of 20 members of Congress to discuss drug pricing, among other issues.

PHARMA IS STILL WINNING IN WASHINGTON: STAT’s Nicholas Florko and Lev Facher take a detailed look at how the pharmaceutical industry is still winning in Washington. “In the past month alone, drug makers and the army of lobbyists they employ pressured a Republican senator not to push forward a bill that would have limited some of their intellectual property rights, according to lobbyists and industry representatives. They managed to water down another before it was added to a legislative package aimed at lowering health care costs.” And lobbyists convinced “another GOP lawmaker — once bombastically opposed to the industry’s patent tactics — to publicly commit to softening his own legislation on the topic, as STAT reported last month.

SANDERS SAYS HE’D BREAK UP FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, AMAZON: From POLITICO’s Cristiano Lima: “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today said that if elected president he would ‘absolutely’ look to break up online giants Facebook, Google and Amazon, offering his strongest pledge to date to pursue antitrust enforcement against the tech industry. … He singled out Facebook in particular as having ‘incredible power over the economy, over the political life of this country in a very dangerous sense.’”

JOBS REPORT

— B. Riley Financial, a California financial services company, has added former Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.) to its board of directors. Walters lost reelection last year.

— The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has promoted Kip Eideberg to senior vice president for government and industry relations. He was previously a vice president.

— Hamilton Place Strategies has promoted Claire Bischoff to director. She was previously a senior associate.

SPOTTED: At a breakfast fundraiser this morning for Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) at Hogan Lovells’ offices hosted by the firm’s PAC and the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys, according to a PI tipster: Ivan Zapien of Hogan Lovells, Cristina Antelo of Ferox Strategies and Sara Decker of Walmart.

New Joint Fundraisers

None

New PACs

Life Matters (Super PAC)

OneAmerica Justice for All PAC (PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Alternative Fuels & Chemicals Coalition: American Diversified Energy

Berquam Ventures, LLC: Team Hallahan LLC (on behalf of Amazon Web Services)

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District

Burrell International Group LLC: Small Biotechnology Business Coalition

Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Corteva Agriscience

David Turch & Assoc.: City of Lake Elsinore, CA

Ernst & Young LLP (Washington Council Ernst & Young): BlackRock, Inc.

Ferox Strategies: The Walt Disney Company

Ferox Strategies: Waste Management, Inc.

Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures, LLC: Stored Value Cards, Inc.

Madison Law & Policy, P.C.: The Options Clearing Corporation

Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Aflac Inc.

Paul Hastings LLP: Flourish

Rothschild Film and Television Corporation: Joshua Bowman

Rothschild Rothschild Film and Television Corporation: Rothschild Film And Television Corporation

Rothschild Film and Television Corporation: Rothschild USA

Squire Patton Boggs: CRRC Sifang America Incorporated

Squire Patton Boggs: JUUL Labs, Inc.

Squire Patton Boggs: LogistiCare Solutions, LLC

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Charge Minerals

Team Hallahan LLC: Amazon Web Services

Team Hallahan LLC: City of Cleveland (c/o Cleveland Hopkins Int. Airport & Burke Lakefront Airport)

The Burnham Group LLC: Oakland University

The McSwane Group: National Association of Chain Drug Stores

The Raben Group: Sixteen Thirty Fund

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New Lobbying Terminations

1600 Group LLC: Communications Workers of America

Card & Associates, LLC: ClearEdge Partners, Inc.

Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation

CGCN Group, LLC (formerly known as Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board

Cohen & Grigsby, P.C.: Boss Controls LLC

Cypress Advocacy, LLC: Advantage Capital Partners

David Rocchio: Porter Airlines, Inc.

Economic Policy Strategies: International Franchise Association

Holland & Knight LLP: America Movil, S.A.B. DE C.V.

Lobbyit.com: PillNurse

Mr. Thad Huguley: Runyan Public Affairs

NVG, LLC: Cotiviti Corporation

Pauley Management Inc.: Brevard County Florida

Squire Patton Boggs: KazMunayGas International NV

Squire Patton Boggs: Tri-Star Laminates Inc.

Susan J. White & Associates, Inc.: Central Coast Alliance For Health

The McKeon Group, Inc.: GC Services LP

The Rose Company, LLC: David L. Horne, LLC on behalf of W.V. Hydro, Inc.

Todd Smith & Associates, LLC: EBS Coalition (Informal Coalition)

Todd Smith & Associates, LLC: State of Georgia (Office of Governor of Georgia)

Venable LLP: Quality Parts Coalition

Venable LLP: Uphold, Inc.

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