Afghan security personnel stand guard as black smoke rises from the Intercontinental Hotel after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday. Gunmen stormed the hotel and sett off a 12-hour gun battle with security forces that continued into Sunday morning, as frantic guests tried to escape from fourth and fifth-floor windows. | Rahmat Gul/AP Photo Spokesman for Rick Gates killed in Afghanistan hotel attack

A spokesman for Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign official indicted in the Russia investigation, was killed over the weekend in Afghanistan during the bombing and siege of a hotel that catered to foreigners.

Glenn Selig, 49, was in Kabul on business related to his Florida public relations firm when he became one of at least 22 people killed during a 14-hour attack that began Saturday night and stretched into Sunday, a colleague said.


Taliban militants opposed to Afghanistan’s government have claimed responsibility for the assault.

“Unfortunately, we have received confirmation Glenn Selig was killed during the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel,” Selig Multimedia said in a statement Wednesday. “Glenn was a tireless professional, loyal friend and pillar of the community, but most importantly he was a loving husband and wonderful father. The loss for his family and friends cannot be measured nor conveyed strongly enough, but we thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have received.”

Selig, a former investigative reporter for the Fox affiliate in Tampa, served as a spokesman in recent months both for Gates and for Jack Burkman, a lobbyist who recently organized a fundraiser for Gates that drew the ire of the judge overseeing his case.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson complained that Gates’ participation in the event via a videotaped statement, along with Burkman’s sharp rhetoric toward special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, appeared to run afoul of a gag order she had entered in the case. Earlier this month, she dropped the matter with a warning to Gates not to engage anyone to make statements about the case on his behalf.

Gates and Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, were indicted in October on charges that included money laundering and failing to register as foreign lobbyists in connection with their work on issues related to Ukraine. Both men pleaded not guilty.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Wednesday that four American citizens were killed and two injured in the weekend attack, but she did not identify them.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“The United States strongly condemns the attack on January 20 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul,” Nauert said. “We offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed and wish for the speedy recovery of those wounded. Out of respect for the families of the deceased, we have no further comment.”

Burkman said in an interview that he considered Selig like a brother and was badly shaken by his friend’s death.

“The tragically ironic part is Glenn’s last words to me were, ‘Be careful,’” Burkman said. “It’s just a tragedy — terrible.”

Burkman said that he was unaware of precisely what Selig was doing in Kabul, but that he had done work in the region previously.

“He has in the past represented groups trying to bring about peace in Afghanistan,” the lobbyist said. “He went with a group. He had security on the ground.”

