The New York Times is reporting that former Trump advisors and campaign officials are carving out a lucrative niche as lobbyists to governments that want to avoid sanctions. A key conduit for this activity is the Israeli security consulting firm Mer Security and Communication Systems, which was paid $8 million by the Democratic Republic of Congo to lobby against sanctions. Congo is facing sanctions because of the human rights abuses of the nation’s president, Joseph Kabila.
Mer dispersed large payments to many Trump cronies and associates. As The New York Times reports:
Lobbying filings show $360,000 paid by Mer to Adnan Jalil, a former congressional liaison for Mr. Trump’s campaign; $250,000 to the firm of Nancye Miller, the wife of the Trump campaign adviser and former C.I.A. chief R. James Woolsey Jr.; $680,000 to the firm of former Representative Robert L. Livingston, an early Trump endorser; and $598,000 to the firm of Brian Glicklich, who has represented Trump allies such as Breitbart News and Rush Limbaugh.
One of Mer’s great successes was an event promoting Congo at the Hay-Adams hotel in July, which was attended by Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. As the Times notes, “Mer also agreed to pay $1.25 million to the firm of Robert Stryk, who had worked with Trump campaign officials, to organize the Hay-Adams event and meetings around it for Mr. Kabila’s special envoy to the United States.” During the event, “Trump administration officials and allies, including the president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, gathered with investors atop the Hay-Adams hotel overlooking the White House for a cocktail reception featuring a short presentation by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s special envoy to the United States.”
Giuliani denies he’s acted as a lobbyist for Congo but has also given conflicting accounted the Hay-Adams event. He first said he went there to impress a woman, because the hotel has a great view. Later, Giuliani said he thought there could be business opportunities at the event. “We’ve always wanted to see what’s Africa all about,” the former New York mayor claimed.
The New York Times notes that Giuliani’s business has been discussing providing security consulting to Congo “possibly through Mer.” Giuliani himself seems to think that security consulting is distinct from lobbying. In a text message to the newspaper, Giuliani said if he did business for Congo “it would only be security consulting.” He added that, “Beyond that, I can’t say anything other than you can assume if we are working in a foreign country, we are doing security — physical and cyber, antiterrorism, emergency management.”