FIRST IN PI — SPY GAMES: Gaurav Srivastava, the Indian-American businessman who had donations to Democrats last year that were frozen or returned after allegations he had posed as a CIA spy, recently hired strategic intelligence firm the Arkin Group to investigate his former business partner-turned-adversary, Daniel reports. — Arkin Group managing director Victoria Kataoka revealed on a December panel that her firm was hired to combat what she said was “a disinformation campaign that was waged against” Srivastav by his former business partner, the oil trader Niels Troost. — She talked about how once the “fake CIA spy” narrative took hold in the media, the moniker became almost impossible to refute and that other business associates have started to distance themselves from Srivastava as a result. — A spokesperson for the Arkin Group confirmed to PI that Srivastava had engaged to investigate “the disinformation campaign being wielded against him,” adding: “As a risk intelligence firm, we follow the facts where they lead.” — In a statement, Srivastava didn’t address why he had hired Arkin but noted that multiple governments have sanctioned Troost for his involvement in the Russian energy sector. “Troost has been peddling his absurd fake CIA story to cover up his own failings,” he said. — Troost lawyer Jason Masimore, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, said in a statement that he respected Arkin Group founder Jack Devine, who worked for the CIA for three decades, including as acting deputy director of operations. — “It is unfortunate that The Arkin Group did not perform its own due diligence of Guarav Srivastava before agreeing to work to clean up his duly earned negative reputation,” he said. “There is no disinformation campaign against Gaurav Srivastava by Mr. Troost. But facts clearly show that such a malicious campaign has been leveled against Mr. Troost and his family.” — Late last summer, Srivastava also hired Forward Global, an international strategic communications and government affairs firm, to help with his media issues, but the firm ended its relationship with him two weeks after signing him, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm declined to comment on why the relationship ended but Srivastava said, “We had a brief engagement, which ended amicably.” THE TRUMP EFFECT, CONT.: In yesterday’s PI, we noted that President Donald Trump’s election hadn’t yet translated into an increase in lobbying revenues for Michael Best Strategies, which is led by Trump’s first White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. But the firm has signed more than 20 new clients since the election, Priebus said in an interview — another one of which, United Airlines, was disclosed today. — Since November, Michael Best has also registered to lobby for Adobe, BioWound Solutions, Acesso Biologics, ApSeed Early Childhood Education and the Center for AI Safety Action Fund, and has seen a “dramatic increase” in interest from prospective clients not accurately captured in 2024’s disclosures, he argued. Happy Tuesday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. TOP RULES STAFFER HEADING DOWNTOWN: Jennifer Belair is leaving the Hill after more than 15 years to join Atlas Crossing as a senior vice president of government affairs. Belair has served for the past five years as a top staffer on the powerful House Rules Committee, which determines how and which legislation makes it to the House floor — including serving as the panel’s staff director since last year. — Belair also worked briefly in the first Trump administration as head of the congressional and external affairs team at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Before that, she served as the parliamentarian on two other committees — House Financial Services and House Judiciary — and for Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Trump’s pick to lead the VA. VENN SHUFFLES PRACTICE GROUPS: Venn Strategies is realigning its org chart to group its tax, trade and finance work under one practice group amid what is already turning out to be a consequential year for all three policy areas. The 20-person team will be the firm’s second-largest, and will be chaired by Venn president Erik Olson and co-chaired by principal Noelle Montaño — both former staffers with the House Ways and Means Committee. — As part of the shuffle, Venn executive vice president Ben Steinberg will become the sole chair of the firm’s critical infrastructure practice. The firm has also named Sam Goodstein a co-chair of its oversight and investigations group alongside current chair Emilia DiSanto. TREND WATCH: “The government of Denmark has not historically been a big spender on Washington lobbying,” but just before Trump kicked off his second term, “Denmark’s embassy started shopping for a lobbyist with ties to the new president, who has loudly proclaimed his intention to try to take over the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. The Danes are not alone,” The New York Times’ Ken Vogel writes. — “A number of countries that would be affected by Mr. Trump’s threatened acquisitions, tariffs, aid reductions or deportations have been urgently seeking help on K Street to navigate his administration,” including Panama, which as PI noted last week has signed up BGR Group and VantageKnight to contracts totaling more than $2 million; Somalia, where military cooperation could be rolled back; and South Korea, which could be hit by Trump’s tariff pledges and is now in the midst of a leadership crisis. — But not everyone on K Street is rushing to cash in on the demand for having a Trump ally on their payroll: “Representing a country that Mr. Trump has targeted could risk blowback from a president who has been sensitive to perceptions of disloyalty or the specter of associates profiting from their affiliation with him,” with Ballard Partners and potentially even BGR turning down overtures from the Danish Embassy, per NYT. ICYMI — NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: A conference last year for utility regulators featured the can’t-miss presence of tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, in “the latest sign of the billions of dollars pouring into energy-intensive data centers for artificial intelligence,” E&E News’ Jeffrey Tomich writes. — “For several days, representatives of so-called hyperscalers joined the usual gaggle of utility lobbyists jockeying for face time with regulators — gatekeepers of an electricity system powering the U.S. race to advance AI technology.” — “At the nexus of utilities and tech are tough issues around who bears the risks of building new infrastructure to power warehouses of computers with electricity needs equivalent to some U.S. cities. They are questions for the largely unknown state officials who set utility rates, and the answers will shape how and where tech giants move forward.” LEGAL EAGLES: “The Republican National Committee and Chris LaCivita, President Trump’s former co-campaign manager, have readied a defamation lawsuit against The Daily Beast, demanding a full retraction and apology over an October 2024 article that originally suggested LaCivita was paid $22 million by the Trump campaign,” Axios’ Sara Fischer reports. — “While The Daily Beast has made efforts to address the concerns, including deleting a segment of its podcast last week that referenced an incorrect figure from its original story, the RNC and LaCivita don’t think it has done enough to offset the damages they claim the original article drove,” sources told Axios. The RNC and LaCivita “argue the article not only damaged LaCivita’s reputation but also hindered the RNC’s and the Trump campaign’s ability to fundraise, according to letters sent by lawyers representing the RNC and LaCivita obtained by Axios.”
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