MORE NEW BUSINESS: Here are a few more hires that caught PI’s eye this week: FGS Global is once again working for an extension of the Saudi government — its sovereign wealth fund — after an earlier iteration of the firm, then known as Glover Park Group, dropped Saudi Arabia as a client in the aftermath of the 2018 murder of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. — FGS’ Paul Hicks, a former public affairs executive for the NFL, will conduct message testing for the Saudi Public Investment Fund in order to “determine audience attitudes on issues pertaining to sports and entertainment,” according to DOJ filings. — The filings don’t provide additional details, but PIF’s bankrolling of the LIV Golf league has received plenty of ink in this newsletter as a result of its enemies-to-lovers relationship with the PGA Tour and the fund’s investments in other global sports, which critics argue is aimed to rehab Saudi Arabia’s image after Khashoggi’s murder, which U.S. intelligence officials concluded was approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. — In 2023, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund purchased a stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of Washington’s pro hockey and men’s and women’s basketball franchises, in what was believed to be the first such instance in the U.S. Earlier this month, Front Office Sports noted that a rules change last year could open the door for a sovereign wealth fund like PIF to indirectly invest in an NFL team. — And the Cayman Islands’ Ministry of Financial Services and Commerce has hired Jeffrey Munk via the law and lobbying firm Schaerr Jaffe for help assembling “a strong network” of U.S. officials, industry groups and NGOs “who can be influential allies” for the infamous tax haven in Washington. — According to a blueprint filed with DOJ this week, Munk will work to forge ties between the Caymans’ finance minister and members of key congressional committees, Wall Street trade groups and think tanks to help policy players “better understand Cayman's role in the international financial community, and to assist both the US and Cayman in ensuring full compliance with its countries laws, and thereby prevent money laundering, tax evasion, and the financing of terrorism by bad actors from any nation.” EVERY DOGE HAS ITS DAY: Elon Musk’s dayslong internet spat with OpenAI’s Sam Altman over a company partnership touted by Trump this week is adding fuel to concerns over “the inherent conflict in the highly unusual arrangement of having the world’s foremost business leader — and its richest person — actively working in the White House without having stepped aside from his business roles,” The Washington Post’s Faiz Siddiqui writes. — The Tesla and SpaceX founder’s “wealth has surged on his timely election bet, in which he poured $277 million toward the election of Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, in part because Wall Street expects his businesses to gain from the friendly policies of his new allies in Washington.” — “As head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has been tasked by the president with recommending steep cuts to federal spending and regulation. He has signaled the group could target agencies that have been a thorn in the side of his companies.” — “Initially envisioned as a body to make ambitious prescriptions from outside government, Trump on Monday instead established DOGE as a project operating from within the White House. … Musk has been discussed as potentially becoming a ‘special government employee’ within the White House — a position that would exempt him from certain reporting and disclosure requirements of other senior officials.” — In other DOGE news, the Wall Street Journal’s Brian Schwartz reports that Bill McGinley, the former Vogel Group and Holtzman Vogel attorney and lobbyist tapped to be DOGE’s top lawyer, is leaving the upstart outfit just days into Trump’s administration. — McGinley, an alum of Trump’s first administration who Trump originally picked to be his White House counsel, “is in discussions with several large companies to return to the private sector.” His departure comes on the heels of Vivek Ramaswamy’s exit as DOGE’s co-chair amid reported tensions with Musk and Ramaswamy’s plans to run for governor in Ohio. ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed in amended campaign filings Thursday that her unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign owes more than $300,000 in unpaid debts, with Leavitt failing to disclose for years that her campaign took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in inappropriate donations and never paid the money back,” NOTUS’ Claire Heddles reports. — “The vast majority of that debt, about $200,000, is owed as refunds to contributors who appear to have donated above the legal limits. Those excessive contributions went unreported for years — until Thursday — when Leavitt’s campaign amended every campaign filing she had ever made with the Federal Election Commission.” — “Congressional candidates can technically accept campaign donations exceeding contribution limits — as long as they refund the contributor or redesignate the funds within 60 days, according to federal campaign finance law. Leavitt’s campaign committee appears to have done neither.” ICYMI THURSDAY: “Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is releasing the names of his donors to his Democratic National Committee campaign — an effort to pressure his opponents to reveal their own financial backers ahead of the Feb. 1 election,” our Elena Schneider reports. — “O’Malley’s list, shared first with POLITICO, shows more than 350 people who had donated to his campaign, totaling about $350,000, and his spokesperson called on the other DNC chair candidates to ‘do the same’ by Saturday.” — The longshot candidate’s move appears to be “aimed at Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, a prolific fundraiser whose close relationship with top donors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, has come under attack from his opponents.” — “Hoffman is not popular among some DNC members, after he angered state party chairs by launching a voter data organization in 2018, a prized asset that’s primarily managed by state parties.” — “A spokesperson for Wikler’s campaign said their campaign is backed by 1,000 donors, but declined to release a list in its entirety. But they will disclose their donors at midnight on Jan. 31, when they are legally required to file their 527 non-profit and hybrid federal PAC" with the FEC.
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