Come clean on Saudi ties

Warren demands lobbying firms come clean on Saudi ties

By MARIANNE LEVINE

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on D.C. lobbying shops to divulge their ties to Saudi Arabia.

In a letter sent Wednesday to 18 firms and provided to POLITICO, the Massachusetts Democrat asks about their current or previous work for Saudi Arabia, in light of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. She seeks details of their contracts, descriptions of whether anyone from the Trump administration was involved in the “negotiation or performance” of the contracts,” and whether they plan to continue to lobby for Saudi Arabia in the future.

The push comes as Warren is set to deliver a speech Thursday outlining her foreign policy vision, in advance of a likely run for president in 2020.

“This ongoing status as a representative of Saudi government interests raises questions about whether your firm prioritizes profit margins over basic human rights, and whether it is ethically and morally defensible for American lobbyists to be providing services to a repressive foreign regime that does not share America's values,” Warren wrote in a letter to John Saunders, president and chief executive of Fleishman-Hillard Inc.

In addition to Fleishman-Hillard, Warren sent letters to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, MSLGroup Americas, Hohlt Group Global, Hogan Lovells, Hill and Knowlton Strategies, Just Consulting, Portland PR Inc., Southfive Strategies, SAPRAC Inc., Capitol Media Group, Churchill Ripley, the McKeon Group, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Squire Patton Boggs, November Team LLC, CGCN Group and King & Spalding. Warren also sent letters to five firms that said after Khashoggi’s killing that they would stop lobbying for Saudi Arabia, to confirm they followed through.

“If the reports are accurate, the decision to terminate lobbying services for the Saudi government is a positive step toward reducing the corrosive influence of foreign governments and other special interests on our democracy,” she wrote in a letter to Lanny Griffith, chief executive of BGR Group. She added that “it remains in the public interest for your firm to provide a full, transparent accounting of its previous business ties to the Saudi government.”

In addition to BGR Group, the Glover Park Group, the Harbour Group, The Gladstone Place Partners and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP said they would drop Saudi Arabia as a client.

Warren’s letters to the firms come three months after she introduced sweeping legislation to crack down on lobbying. The bill would ban former members of Congress from lobbying and try to stop Americans from lobbying for foreign governments and companies. Though the bill is not likely to pass a Republican Senate, it could put pressure on Democrats — particularly other Senate Democrats considering running for president — to align with her on anti-corruption measures.