Former Trump lobbyists will represent Libya’s sovereign wealth fund Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

FORMER TRUMP LOBBYISTS WILL REPRESENT LIBYAN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND: The New York lobbyists Brad Gerstman and David Schwartz, who once counted President Donald Trump as one of their clients, have registered as foreign agents to represent Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. Gerstman, Schwartz and another partner at their firm, Shai Franklin, will work to “change the sanctions” affecting the Libyan Investment Authority, according to a Justice Department disclosure. They’ll also reach out to Congress, the State Department and the Treasury Department as well as the media and the “business and banking sectors,” according to the disclosure.

— Gerstman and Schwartz are already familiar with Libya. They opened a Washington office of their firm, Gotham Government Relations & Communications, after Trump’s election and lobbied the White House last year on behalf of a company looking to persuade Trump to back its plan to send private security forces to Libya to facilitate oil exploration, according to Gerstman. The company, MHRT International Oilfield Services, paid Gotham $200,000 but the plan ultimately went nowhere. Once the insurgency started in Libya earlier this year, the “possibility of American intervention became unrealistic,” Gerstman wrote in a text message to PI. Gotham is no longer working for MHRT.

LOBBYISTS FOR SOUTH SUDAN HIRE A SUBCONTRACTOR: Gainful Solutions, which signed a $3.7 million contract in April to represent the South Sudanese government in Washington, has hired two more operatives as subcontractors, including a former staffer on Trump’s presidential campaign. Christopher Harvin and Bruce Fryer of Sanitas International will provide “strategic media relations and third-party outreach to key stakeholders in Congress, the Administration, and relevant agencies,” according to a contract filed with the Justice Department. Harvin worked on Trump’s campaign as a senior adviser and advance lead, according to his LinkedIn profile. The subcontract lasts a year and is worth $750,000.

— Gainful Solutions took the unusual step of rewriting its contract with South Sudan in May after one of its provisions sparked an outcry from human rights groups. The new contract calls for Michael Ranneberger, a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador to Mali, Kenya and Somalia, and Soheil Nazari-Kangarlou of Gainful Solutions to seek “the support of the Trump administration to unite the various ethnic groups of the country in order to build a stable and prosperous country.”

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FACEBOOK RELEASES REPORT ON ANTI-CONSERVATIVE BIAS: “Facebook today released an audit of how it handles political content as it seeks to quell the anger of conservatives who claim the social network is biased against them,” POLITICO’s Steven Overly reports. “The eight-page interim report, authored by former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) [of Covington & Burling], doesn't come to a definitive conclusion about whether anti-conservative bias exists on the platform. But it says the company ‘has taken some steps to address the concerns we uncovered.’”

— Kyl landed at Covington after retiring from the Senate in 2013 and lobbied for clients such as Merck, Qualcomm and Northrop Grumman. He returned to the Senate last year to fill Sen. John McCain’s seat after his death, only to resign at the end of the year so Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey could appoint Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) to complete the remainder of McCain’s term. Kyl returned to Covington and is now banned from lobbying Congress until 2021 under Senate ethics rules. But he’s free to do work that’s not considered lobbying, such as authoring the Facebook report.

THE LATEST FROM GREG CRAIG’S TRIAL: “The judge overseeing the trial of Greg Craig, the former Obama White House counsel, grew publicly irritated with his defense team on Monday, accusing it of bucking her orders limiting the questioning of witnesses,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports. “Judge Amy Berman Jackson dressed down Craig defense lawyer William Murphy for persisting in raising matters that she ruled off-limits during cross-examination. The dust-up came as the prosecution continues presenting its case that Craig deliberately concealed facts from the Justice Department relating to a report he prepared on the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine.”

IF YOU MISSED IT ON MONDAY: “Days after a pair of deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, President Trump said he was prepared to endorse what he described as ‘very meaningful background checks’ that would be possible because of his ‘greater influence now over the Senate and over the House,’” The New York Times’ Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman report.

— “But after discussions with gun rights advocates during his two-week working vacation in Bedminster, N.J. — including talks with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association — Mr. Trump’s resolve appears to have substantially softened, and he has reverted to reiterating the conservative positions on the gun issue he has espoused since the 2016 campaign.” The turnaround “came after N.R.A. officials flooded the White House, Congress and governors’ offices around the country with phone calls since the back-to-back mass shootings on Aug. 3 and 4.”

Jobs Report

— Mario Loyola is joining the Competitive Enterprise Institute as a senior fellow. He previously was associate director for regulatory reform at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

— Poolhouse, an advertising firm that’s worked for Republican candidates and committees as well as corporate clients such as Anheuser Busch, Honda and General Electric, has added five staffers: Brian Athey, as creative director; Jacqueline Wazir, as brand manager; Tristan Francis as graphic designer; Derrick Baber, as copywriter; and Laura Parisi, as brand coordinator. Athey and Wazir will anchor the firm’s newly opened Houston office; Francis, Baber and Parisi will be based in Atlanta.

SPOTTED: At a fundraiser in Jackson, Wyo., on Monday for Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee set up to raise money for Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to a PI tipster: Ivanka Trump; Jared Kushner; Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff; former Vice President Dick Cheney; Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.); Bob Ackerman, the founder of AllegisCyber Capital; and Michael Esposito of Federal Advocates.

New Joint Fundraisers

Collins Maine 2020 (Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican Party)

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan 2020 Victory Fund (Betsy Dirksen Londrigan for Congress, Democratic Party of Illinois)

New PACs

Committee to Restore Sanity (Super PAC)

Political Videos.org (PAC)

People Restoring Democracy PAC (Super PAC)

People Restoring Democracy Political Action Committee (Super PAC)

Iowa Interests PAC (Super PAC)

Committee to Restore Sanity (Super PAC)

Red Sea Rising PAC (Super PAC)

Valley Young Republicans – Federal (PAC)

The Committee to Elect Conservative Candidates (Super PAC)

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New Lobbying Registrations

Easterseals New Jersey: Eastereals New Jersey

Foley & Lardner, LLP: OmegaFlex

Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Tennessee Public Transportation Association

Harbinger Strategies, LLC: Cyrq Energy

Horizon Government Affairs: Action Now Initiative, LLC

New Lobbying Terminations

Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Sandy Hook Promise

PJM Strategies LLC: Airglades International Airport LLC

PJM Strategies LLC: At&T

PJM Strategies LLC: Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida Inc.

PJM Strategies LLC: The Walt Disney Company

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