Gates accused of lying about Manafort meeting with Rohrabacher, Weber Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers and Garrett Ross

GATES ACCUSED OF LYING ABOUT MANAFORT MEETING WITH ROHRABACHER, WEBER: Rick Gates, the former Donald Trump campaign aide and protégé of Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty on Friday and agreed to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Theodoric Meyer report. “Gates admitted to taking part in a conspiracy to hide tens of millions of dollars that he and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort obtained for their lobbying and consulting work related to Ukraine. Gates also acknowledged that, during a debriefing with the special counsel's office and the FBI earlier this month, he lied about the pair’s Ukraine-related work.” Full story.

— The special counsel accused Gates of lying to investigators earlier this month about a March 19, 2013, meeting between Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.); former Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.), who’s now a lobbyist at Mercury; and Manafort. (Rohrabacher and Weber aren’t mentioned by name.) Gates told investigators that Manafort and Weber had told him after the meeting that “there were no discussions of Ukraine,” according to the filing. But Manafort and Weber never said that, and instead told Gates “that the meeting went well.” Gates later helped Manafort prepare “a report that memorialized for Ukrainian leadership the pertinent Ukraine discussions that Manafort represented had taken place at the meeting.” The filing also accuses Manafort of telling Gates in 2017 that he’d “told his FARA lawyer” there had been no discussion of Ukraine at the meeting with Rohrabacher and Weber.

— It’s unclear why Gates would lie about the meeting. Both Mercury and Manafort disclosed the meeting in retroactive filings with the Justice Department last year detailing their work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Rohrabacher told PI last year that the meeting took place over dinner at the Capitol Hill Club. “In retrospect, I don’t remember him talking about specifically who it was who had given him a contract,” Rohrabacher said. “Frankly, I don’t remember if it was the Russians or the Ukrainians. … He certainly wasn’t trying to twist my arm on any policy issue.”

— Ken Grubbs, a Rohrabacher spokesman, confirmed that account on Friday. “Dana recollects the meeting as mostly about politics, old times,” Grubbs said. (Rohrabacher and Weber served in Congress together, and the three men have know each other for decades.) “Ukraine came up in passing.” Neither Rohrabacher nor Weber has been charged with any crime.

— Manafort, meanwhile, maintains his innocence. “I had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence,” he said in a statement on Friday. “For reasons yet to surface [Gates] chose to do otherwise. This does not alter my commitment to defend myself against the untrue piled up charges contained in the indictments against me.”

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer and @marianne_levine.

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.

CORPORATE AMERICA BREAKS WITH NRA: Bloomberg News’ Polly Mosendz reports that Symantec and MetLife announced this morning “they would break off from the NRA. ‘Symantec has stopped its discount program with the National Rifle Association,’ a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. A MetLife spokesman said ‘we value all our customers but have decided to end our discount program with the NRA.’ Security systems maker Simplisafe Inc. also dropped the gun group today.”

— “The five million-member NRA has partnerships with dozens of businesses, ranging from car rentals to hotels, and even offers a branded credit card. First National Bank of Omaha, which backs the card, said it would not renew its contract. Enterprise Holdings Inc., which operates Alamo and National car rentals as well, said it had ended its participation effective March 26. Wyndham Hotel Group LLC announced it was ‘no longer affiliated with the NRA.’” Full story.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE LOBBYING ON THE HIGHER EDUCATION BILL: “The Higher Education Act, which governs everything from student loans to the definition of a college credit, hasn’t been updated in a decade,” The Wall Street Journal’s Melissa Korn and Michelle Hackman report. “As [GOP Rep. Virginia] Foxx’s legislation to overhaul it wends its way through Congress, plenty of the usual players from the well-oiled higher-education lobby are gearing up for a fight. The Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the American Association of Community Colleges spent more money lobbying Congress last year than any year since at least 1998. The higher-education sector spent $76 million on lobbying overall in 2017, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of lobbying disclosure data.” Full story.

TECH LOBBY WORKING TO SLOW SEX-TRAFFICKING BILL: “Tech industry advocates are hustling to slow the momentum of legislation to combat online sex trafficking, raising concerns that the latest revisions to the House bill haven't been fully vetted by lawmakers,” POLITICO’s Steven Overly and Ashley Gold report. “The House Rules Committee will take up the bill, H.R. 1865 (115), on Monday, and Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.) plans to offer an amendment to essentially combine it with the Senate bill, S. 1693 (115), which has the support of survivors' groups. … The relatively fast-track approach, after months of wrangling and stalemate, has left tech groups scrambling to respond — and they're calling on lawmakers to pump the brakes.” Full story.

MEANWHILE, IN FLORIDA: Mike Spies has a deeply reported piece in The New Yorker on Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Association’s Florida lobbyist. “At seventy-eight years old, she is nearing four decades as the most influential gun lobbyist in the United States. Her policies have elevated Florida’s gun owners to a uniquely privileged status, and made the public carrying of firearms a fact of daily life in the state. … According to Mac Stipanovich, a longtime Florida Republican strategist and lobbyist, Hammer is ‘in a class by herself. When you approach a certain level, where the legislator is basically a fig leaf, well, that’s not the rule.’” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) “said that one of her e-mails ‘packs more political punch than a hundred thousand TV buys from any other special interest in the state.’” Full story.

JOBS REPORT

— Matt Simeon will join the National Restaurant Association on Monday as vice president of advocacy communications. Today is his last day as a principal at the Locust Street Group.

— The Laura and John Arnold Foundation has added Michael Deich as executive vice president of policy and advocacy. He’s a former senior adviser to the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration and has also worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as a lobbyist for Van Scoyoc Associates, among other positions.

SPOTTED: On the cigar patio of Morton’s steakhouse on Connecticut Avenue on Thursday night: Nigel Farage.

— At a panel discussion with Carl Hulse of The New York Times and Paul Kane of The Washington Post and moderated by John Feehery of EFB Advocacy on Thursday night at EFB’s offices, according to a PI tipster: Dave Popp of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office; Antonia Ferrier of the Senate Republican Communications Center; Katie Niederee of the Senate Finance Committee; Tom Brandt of Sen. Jerry Moran’s office; Liz Johnson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Taylor Reidy of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s office; Kristopher Jones of 21st Century Fox; Kerry Feehery of Holland & Knight; Bob Stevenson of the OB-C Group; and John Easton and Adam Belmar of EFB Advocacy.

NEW JOINT FUNDRAISERS:

Foreign Policy Leadership Committee (Rufus Gifford, Elissa Slotkin)

New York Majority Committee (Reps. John J. Faso and Elise Stefanik)

NEW PACs:

Flip NY24 (PAC)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:

3 Click Solutions, LLC: Amplifon hearing health care

Alpine Group, Inc.: Kindle Energy, LLC

Barnes & Thornburg, LLP: Surface Preparation Technologies LLC

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC: ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

DGSR LLC: Free Market America

Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, P.C.: SC Health Company

K&L Gates LLP: BYD North America

K&L Gates LLP: Equinix, Inc.

MGD Strategies LLC (formerly known as "Megan M Don"): Summit Health Care Consulting, LLC

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:

Legal Strategies & Consulting, PL: Sarasota County, Florida

Legal Strategies & Consulting, PL: Siesta Key Rum Distillery

Legal Strategies & Consulting, PL: St. Augustine Distillery

Wright Strategies, LLC: Olin Corporation

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