NSO GROUP also paid BEACON GLOBAL STRATEGIES (a firm started by JEREMY BASH, an MSNBC analyst who served as CIA & Pentagon chief of staff
under OBAMA) until early 2020, @NSOGroup told me last yr.
It said @SKDK & Beacon Global "provided communications & business strategy advice"
NSO Group has retained TOM CLARE to attack the investigation as “speculative & baseless.”
@TAClare's boutique defamation firm @clarelockellp also has represented the Russian oligarch OLEG DERIPASKA, Project Veritas (vs the @NYTimes) & Dominion Voting Systems, among other clients
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Asked if TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance had a role in prepping him for today, TikTok chief SHOU CHEW says he worked “with my team here in DC."
Curious what the Biden-connected firm @SKDK, which TikTok hired amid rising US scrutiny, is doing for TikTok.
.@SKDK advises clients on navigating government & public scrutiny.
But it says it doesn't lobby.
It is not currently registered to lobby for TikTok (or any client) under LDA or FARA, despite FARA's requirement that consultants register when they do PR for some foreign clients.
Its members include judges, but also Senators & business & media execs.
As LEONARD LEO put it in a video obtained by @ProPublica, "if this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture…" propublica.org/article/leonar…
According to materials I obtained, TENEO's big Sept. retreat at @BarnsleyResort in Ga. featured presentations by:
▶️@realdailywire's @JeremyDBoreing
▶️filmmaker Jon Erwin
▶️@BetsyDeVos & Dick DeVos
▶️hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer
▶️Leonard Leo & his lieutenant Jonathan Bunch
NEW: KEVIN McCARTHY's closest confidant & biggest fundraiser is a lobbyist who spearheaded his speaker campaign, sneaking into his Capitol office to avoid reporters & urging donors to pressure holdouts to vote 'yes.'
As a result, Miller is in high demand in corporate America, where he is seen as the guy to neutralize scrutiny from a GOP right flank that is targeting big business as "woke"
Even with Trump gone, Jeff Miller demonstrated his influence (but also the risks of the relationship for McCarthy) by helping defeat bipartisan antitrust bills targeting his clients @Amazon & @Apple.
@TuckerCarlson & others suggested McCarthy opposed the bills at Miller's behest
In an encrypted group text, FTX officials & consultants deliberated over how to attribute political donations, & worried they might be violating campaign finance rules, we revealed last month. nytimes.com/2022/11/22/bus…
Those concerns were borne out in the indictment unsealed today
According to the indictment:
@SBF_FTX & others "knowingly & willfully" made donations to candidates, joint cmtes & super PACs "in the names of other persons" (i.e. illegal straw donations), & made corporate donations to campaigns (which are also illegal). documentcloud.org/documents/2345…
Another potential violation not expressly articulated in the indictment:
If @FTX_Official corporate funds were being steered into political donations, that could also constitute illegal FOREIGN donations, since the company was registered in the Bahamas. fec.gov/help-candidate…
JUST POSTED: With Washington headed for divided government, The Oversight Industrial Complex is revving up.
Millions of dollars are already starting to flow to defense lawyers & new nonprofit groups geared toward GOP congressional investigations. nytimes.com/2022/11/17/us/…
DAVID BROCK is leaving MEDIA MATTERS (@mmfa) & @AMERICAN_BRIDGE to start & run a new 501(c)4, @FactsFirstUSA that aims to raise $5m/year for "A SWAT Team to Counter Republican Congressional Investigations," per memo to Dem donors, outside groups & others. documentcloud.org/documents/2331…
FACTS FIRST USA plans to use paid advertising, social, legal analysis, polling & research to try to turn the oversight investigations back on Republicans.
It produced this video accusing Republicans of preparing “sham investigations to help elect Trump.”
The PETER THIEL-backed Senate candidate BLAKE MASTERS also spoke (before TRUMP) at the ROCKBRIDGE NETWORK's reception last night at Mar-a-Lago.
Then, Masters & Trump attended the premiere of a documentary critical of MARK ZUCKERBERG's donations to support election administration
A deck indicates that ROCKBRIDGE NETWORK is “pursuing political alpha” by funding initiatives like:
➡️"government-in-waiting" for the next GOP WH: $3M
➡️“influencer programs,” investigative journalism & P.R.: $8M
➡️“lawfare & strategic litigation”: $3.75M documentcloud.org/documents/2157…