Aug 2, 2017

Iraq’s cash-strapped central government has parted ways with Democratic super-lobbyist Tony Podesta, according to a lobbying disclosure form made public today.

The brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Podesta would have had powerful influence if the Democratic candidate had won the presidency in November. Instead, his firm’s stock appears to have fallen since Republican Donald Trump’s election, with three other clients, including Vietnam and Kosovo, ending their relationship over the past few months.

An Iraqi official said Baghdad was looking to diversify its lobbying team when it added the Denver-based law and lobbying giant Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to its roster shortly before Trump’s presidential inauguration. As it happens, however, Baghdad’s budget woes are forcing the Iraqi Embassy in Washington to terminate that $40,000-per-month agreement as well.

“With the new administration, we wanted more of a bipartisan approach in our lobbying,” the Iraqi official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. But with “the glut in the oil crisis [and] the cost of war [against the Islamic State] the government took measures to reduce financing for certain activities for Iraqi ministries in general and that directly affected us. So we had to cut the spending for the lobbying efforts for the time being.”

The Podesta Group has represented Baghdad since 2013 and was paid $720,000 last year for its efforts to solidify US support for the central government. The Iraqi source insisted that Baghdad was still happy with the company’s services and intends to rehire the Podesta Group as soon as finances allow while also adding other firms to push its agenda in a Republican-dominated government.