When the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Eric Schiermeyer heard that President Trump was holding small group dinners with major donors, he saw opportunity.
Mr. Schiermeyer reached out to a lobbyist with connections in Mr. Trump’s orbit, who arranged for him to attend a dinner with the president at his private Mar-a-Lago club on March 1 in exchange for donations to a pro-Trump PAC called MAGA Inc. totaling $1 million.
The personal and corporate donations were among dozens of seven- and eight-figure contributions to MAGA Inc. from crypto and other interests revealed in a campaign finance filing on Thursday night that hinted at the access Mr. Trump accords those willing to pay.
At the dinner, Mr. Schiermeyer, who had never given a federal political donation before, presented an idea for a cryptocurrency called “U.S.A. Token” that would be distributed to every citizen, according to interviews and a flier he distributed to attendees that sets out details of the proposal. He hoped it could be supported through a federal contract with his company.
“I don’t usually put time and attention on politics,” Mr. Schiermeyer said in a text exchange with The New York Times. But, he added, “I was able to say my piece, and the idea is clearly making the rounds, so mission accomplished from my view.”
While the Trump administration has not given Mr. Schiermeyer any indication it is pursuing the U.S.A. Token idea, the episode underscores the face time that Mr. Trump has been willing to grant to deep-pocketed interests seeking business, preferential treatment or protection from him and his administration.
It also reveals how lobbyists, political consultants and others in the influence industry have capitalized on Mr. Trump’s aggressive fund-raising while in office to deliver for clients and earn chits with a president who keeps close tabs on who is delivering cash and listens to their appeals. It is a cycle that has helped Mr. Trump fill the coffers of his political groups, defying the gravity that sometimes drags down the fund-raising of term-limited presidents….
Category Archives: lobbying
“Silicon Valley’s bet on Trump starts to pay off”
The White House on Wednesday plans to reveal how it will position the United States to lead a global race to develop artificial intelligence and unveil three executive orders intended to boost the American tech sector, according to two people familiar with the rollout who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public…..
Trump has flaunted his administration’s connections to the industry as a display of innovation and economic power. But consumer advocates warn that industry should not be able to write its own rules, amid concerns that AI could kill jobs, harm the environment and exacerbate existing social biases….
Trump’s AI plan is just the latest administration policy that stands to amplify the fortunes of his Silicon Valley supporters, many of whom publicized their support for him in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year and donated millions to support his candidacy.
“Crypto Industry Reaches Milestone With Passage of First Major Bill”
NYT: “The big bipartisan votes on the legislation reflected the industry’s success in cultivating powerful allies in government. Crypto firms financed a network of super PACs that spent more than $130 million backing pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 election.”
Issue One, “Crypto Craziness”
Issue One has this report, finding “12 times during Trump’s second term that Trump and his administration have generally made life easier for the controversial industry that has invested heavily in the political influence game.“
“Qatari foreign agents frequently donate to the congressional offices they lobby”
From the Washington Examiner. I suspect the practice isn’t limited to Qatar.
“Coming Soon for CEOs, a MAGA-Infused Business Association”
A new group out of Washington, D.C., aims to offer an alternative to longstanding executive networks like the Business Roundtable, but with a MAGA makeover.
American Growth Partnership, founded by several former Republican campaign and congressional aides, will offer monthly briefings and off-the-record roundtable discussions between its members and Trump appointees, aides and policymakers.
The group will start this month. Membership will be tiered and start from $50,000 to $100,000, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Its first event will allow chief executives and other members to meet with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson. Its second event will be with Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Both agencies have companies such as Meta Platforms and Paramount in their crosshairs and are being closely watched by business leaders. …
The group plans on leveraging its connections within the Trump administration to offer business leaders briefings from officials that could help them navigate business issues ranging from economic policy to tariffs and antitrust. It will also do monthly updates with members based on their own interactions with the administration.
“Trump-aligned club for the ultra rich launches in Washington”
A new club is coming to Washington — and you probably can’t get in.
Donald Trump Jr., megadonor Omeed Malik and several other investors are launching an invite-only club that costs more than half a million to join with an exclusive post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner gathering, according to an invite obtained by POLITICO and two people with knowledge of the venture, granted anonymity to discuss the private organization.
The “Executive Branch” is the brainchild of Malik and the president’s eldest son, and their partners at conservative fund 1789 Capital. It will be located in Georgetown.
Their goal, the people familiar with the plans say, is to create the highest-end private club that Washington has ever had, and cater to the business and tech moguls who are looking to nurture their relationships with the Trump administration.
The referral requirements and prohibitive pricing is meant to ensure the C-suite crowd can mingle with Trump advisers and cabinet members without the prying eyes of the press and wanna-be insiders. The price tag won’t be a problem for Trump’s cabinet — given it’s by far the wealthiest in history.
New Attorney General Bondi, Who Was Once a Foreign Agent for Qatar, Diminishes DOJ Criminal Oversight of Foreign Agents
The Justice Department is scaling back enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying transparency and bribes of foreign officials, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced.
The Criminal Division’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit will prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the criminal operations of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, such as cases that involve bribery of foreign officials to “facilitate human smuggling and the trafficking of narcotics and firearms,” Bondi said in a Wednesday memo obtained by Bloomberg Law.
The FCPA prosecutors shall “shift focus away from investigations and cases that do not have such a connection,” she added.
Separately, Foreign Agents Registration Act enforcement “shall be limited to instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.” The Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, which houses the FARA unit, will “focus on civil enforcement, regulatory initiatives, and public guidance,” the memo said.
In tandem, the narrower emphases for FCPA and FARA teams signals a dramatic retreat from two growth areas of white collar enforcement over the past ten to 15 years.
On Bondi’s past representation of Qatar, see here.
“Despite campaign rhetoric critical of “the swamp,” Donald Trump raised $10 million in 2024 from lobbyists for foreign governments”
Issue One gathers receipts.
“Convicted fraudsters launch AI lobbying firm using fake names”
A Washington startup pitched as a service to integrate AI into lobbying is covertly run by a pair of well-known, far-right conspiracy theorists and convicted felons who are using pseudonyms in their new business, according to four former employees as well as photo and email evidence.
LobbyMatic was founded last year by Jacob Wohl, who in 2022 was convicted along with his longtime associate Jack Burkman of felony telecom fraud after running a robocall campaign in largely Black neighborhoods in several states telling people not to vote by mail. An Ohio judge ordered them to spend 500 hours registering people to vote, and the Federal Communications Commission fined them $5 million.
n his role as a founder and CEO of the new firm, Wohl uses the name “Jay Klein,” according to the former employees and emails obtained by POLITICO. Burkman uses the pseudonym “Bill Sanders,” the former employees said.
LobbyMatic, whose website does not list any company leadership, temporarily signed up at least three brand-name clients: Toyota, consulting firm Boundary Stone Partners and drug company Lantheus, according to two of the former employees.
Running their new firm under pseudonyms appears to be the latest instance of shady behavior by a pair of convicted fraudsters who’ve become infamous in Washington for various schemes. Now, they are seizing on public exuberance around the promise of AI to transform the workplace — in this case, on K Street.
“Corporate lobbyists eye new lawsuits after Supreme Court limits federal power”
Mere hours after the Supreme Court sharply curbed the power of federal agencies, conservatives and corporate lobbyists began plotting how to harness the favorable ruling in a redoubled quest to whittle down climate, finance, health, labor and technology regulations in Washington.
The early strategizing underscored the magnitude of the justices’ landmark decision, which rattled the nation’s capital and now appears poised to touch off years of lawsuits that could redefine the U.S. government’s role in modern American life.
The legal bombshell arrived Friday, when the six conservatives on the Supreme Court invalidated a decades-old legal precedent that federal judges should defer to regulatory agencies in cases where the law is ambiguous or Congress fails to specify its intentions. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. described the framework as “unworkable,” at one point arguing in his opinion that it “prevents judges from judging.”
“‘I could sell golf’: How DeSantis and aides courted lobbyists for campaign cash”
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took office in 2019, his political team made a list of the state’s top 40 lobbyists and about 100 of their “Suggested Clients to target” for political contributions, according to a fundraising document reviewed by The Washington Post.
Next to the name of each lobbyist was a dollar figure, an “ask” that the DeSantis team hoped they would raise based on their book of clients, whose names were also listed in the document and included large corporations such as Disney and Motorola, as well as sports organizations, billionaires and interest groups with extensive business before the state.
The Florida governor’s fundraisers hoped that nine lobbyists would raise at least $1 million each for DeSantis’s political action committee, the state and the Republican Governors Association, according to the document, which was drafted by Heather Barker, a top DeSantis aide and his primary fundraiser, and shared with others.
o help them haul in large sums of money, the document suggested that lobbyists be allowed to offer their clients certain perks, such as meals and rounds of golf with DeSantis, who loves the sport. DeSantis’s fundraisers envisioned that some golf outings with the governor would net contributions of $75,000 or more, according to other emails among DeSantis’s political advisers.
“I could sell golf for $50k this morning,” Barker wrote to other DeSantis aides in a 2019 email obtained by The Post, noting that a prominent Tallahassee lobbyist and his wife wanted to play golf with the recently elected DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis at a course the governor favored. The lobbyist would “get money through a client” to contribute in exchange for golfing with DeSantis, she wrote. It is unclear if the meeting happened. Barker did not respond to a request for comment.
The 2019 document detailed other avenues for securing contributions. “METHODS FOR FIRMS TO DELIVER SUPPORT: Golf, lunch, meetings, dinner, tours, events, etc. — Each have a threshold (ex. Golf $25k per person, which is a deal),” reads the document, whose authenticity was confirmed by multiple people with knowledge of it. Like others interviewed for this story, the people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
While it is common for politicians to seek donations from lobbyists, the efforts by DeSantis to effectively auction off his leisure time to those seeking to influence state policy created a special pathway of access for wealthy donors to the governor that is striking in the way that it was documented in writing, ethics experts said. The golf-related fundraising was part of a broader push by DeSantis to cultivate relationships with big contributors, some of whom have received state appointments or benefited from state policies, as The Post has previously reported.
2021 Texas “CRT law” stops school projects to write legislators
The 74 with a report on the impact of the law on action civics (and the cutest version of lobbying).
Shareholder resolutions on disclosure of lobbying and political activity
Lindsey Stewart at Morningstar has this post at the HLS Forum on Corporate Governance, linking to this full report. Both have some intriguing data on the way that the different mega-asset managers have been voting recently on shareholder resolutions relating to disclosure of lobbying and political activity. (h/t Steven Sholk)