With Daniel Lippman JUST IN: “Former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday,” stemming from his conviction last summer on corruption charges including bribery and illegally acting as a foreign agent of Egypt, per our Ry Rivard. — “The sentence, handed down in a Manhattan courtroom by the U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein, would make Menendez one of just several senators in history to be sent to prison. Stein said the lengthy sentence was meant to deter other politicians from wrongdoing.” — “Before he was sentenced, Menendez, 71, and his attorney were contrite and asked for mercy — arguing he’d already been punished enough, having lost public office and being subjected to widespread mockery as ‘Gold Bar Bob.’” WHO ELSE DONATED TO THE INAUGURATION: CoreCivic, one of several private prison giants that stands to gain from President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to carry out “mass deportations” of undocumented immigrants, wrote a $500,000 check to Trump’s inaugural committee last month, according to a newly filed disclosure — one of several this week that reveal which companies bankrolled last week’s festivities. — The full list of donors to the inaugural committee isn’t due for several more months, but many other corporate players had been more than willing to publicize their contributions to the inauguration in the lead-up to it. — In addition to CoreCivic’s six-figure check to the inauguration, contribution reports required by organizations registered to lobby show that HVAC company Carrier Global donated $1 million to the inaugural committee. — Pesticide maker Syngenta, whose industry has come under attack by Trump’s HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., gave $250,000, as did the marijuana industry group U.S. Cannabis Council and the Coca-Cola Company, which gifted the Diet Coke-fanatic-in-chief a commemorative bottle of his favorite drink. A pair of digital identification companies, ID.me and Socure, wrote checks for $100,000, disclosures show. — Coca-Cola donated to Trump’s first inaugural committee as well as former President Joe Biden’s, according to a PI analysis of FEC disclosures, while subsidiaries of CoreCivic and rival private prison operator GEO Group both donated $250,000 to Trump’s first inaugural committee, disclosures show. — Both private prison companies (or their executives) kicked in more than $1 million in total to support Trump’s campaign last year, and his victory in November sent their stock prices soaring on the prospect that Trump’s immigration crackdown would utilize their detention centers. — “It feels like with this election this year, we are heading into an era that we really haven’t seen maybe only once or twice in a company’s history,” CoreCivic President Damon Hininger said in an earnings call days after November’s election, according to a transcript. In addition to Trump’s administration likely increasing demand for beds for detained migrants, Trump also reversed a Biden-era ban on DOJ contracts with private prisons in his first days in office. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. FIRST IN PI — BROWNSTEIN TO FUNDRAISE FOR GOP: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is slated to host a pair of fundraisers next month benefitting the House and Senate Republican campaign arms, according to invitations shared with PI. — The first fundraiser, on Feb. 10, will feature appearances from NRCC Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) as well as additional unnamed members of Congress, while the second, on Feb. 19, will fête new NRSC Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.). — Suggested contributions for both fundraisers start at $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for PACs. The price to be named a host for the NRCC event comes in at $10,000 for individual attendees and $15,000 for PACs. GET THAT COIN: Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., announced four additions to its global advisory council today. Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and former Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are among the high-profile new members. — Bill Dudley, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Luis Alberto Moreno, the former minister of Economic Development to Colombia, also joined the council. They’ll work with other high-profile regulatory and financial experts to advise Coinbase’s leadership team. — The additions come less than two weeks after Trump’s return to the White House. The crypto industry donated millions to support Trump on the campaign trail last year and poured millions into his inauguration. Trump vowed to enact a variety of helpful changes to the industry, and his second term is expected to be the first pro-crypto administration. — “Coinbase is fortunate to have some of the brightest minds across finance, tech, and politics supporting us through the Global Advisory Council,” said Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad. “Our four members are world-class leaders in their respective fields, and we look forward to their contributions as the world enters a new era for crypto.” — Other notable members of the council include Pat Toomey, former top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee and top Biden pollster John Anzalone. RFK JR. GETS SOME AIR COVER: A group of political operatives is standing up a new advocacy group to support Kennedy’s nomination to lead the nation’s health agencies, amid an onslaught of attacks that has scrambled the usual ideological alliances. — The Patient First Coalition launched today with six figures in initial funding, live-tweeting Kennedy’s appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee today with plans to do the same when Kennedy goes before the Senate HELP Committee tomorrow. — The group is being led by GOP strategists Shannon Burns and Matt Mackowiak, health lobbyist Jim Frogue and health care consultant Jeff Kanter. The effort aims to squeeze swing-vote senators with earned media for surrogates and advocates in their states as well as drumming up a deluge of support from their constituents. Once Kennedy is confirmed, the coalition plans on pivoting to carry the mantle for his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. — On the other side of the confirmation fight, digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future has debuted a whip count to track RFK Jr.’s confirmation prospects, collating every senator’s position (or lack thereof) on his nomination and urging the group’s supporters to post on social media calling on the Senate to block Kennedy’s confirmation. THE EXECS OF THE ROUNDTABLE: Mark Zuckerberg’s latest effort to bolster his profile in Washington has led him to join the Business Roundtable, according to The New York Times’ Lauren Hirsch. — Zuckerberg quietly joined the group that lobbies on behalf of large U.S. companies in September. After previously avoiding politics, the Meta chief has become a distinguishable figure in Washington with his embrace of Trump. Zuckerberg was in Washington to celebrate Trump’s inauguration and recently announced that Meta would end its fact-checking on Facebook posts, a decision that aligns closely with the president and members of the GOP that have accused Meta of censorship in the past. Now, Zuckerberg is even rumored to be looking at property in D.C. — Like Zuckerberg’s attitude toward politics, the Business Roundtable has shifted. “In 2019, it became a symbol for the ‘gentle capitalism’ that Mr. Zuckerberg has recently railed against.” The group’s priority at the time aimed at going beyond the interests of shareholders and investing “in their employees, protect the environment and deal fairly and ethically with their supplies,” according to a statement from then-group leader, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon. — “But such thinking had been falling out of favor even before Mr. Trump’s reelection, and corporate America has refocused on the bottom line. Walmart’s chief, Doug McMillon, who headed the Business Roundtable after Mr. Dimon, rolled back the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in November amid a broader cultural backlash. At this year’s World Economic Forum, where diversity initiatives were once celebrated, discussion of many social issues was nearly absent.” MINERS KEEPERS: While pushing for the U.S. to gain control over Greenland, the president is surrounded by wealthy investors, including his Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, who have considered the island’s potential as a lucrative venue for mining, reports NYT’s Kate Kelly. — Lutnick has “a financial stake in the island’s mining promise through an investment financial firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, holds in a company called Critical Metals Corp., securities filings show. Critical Metals plans to start the mining process as soon as 2026, according to company executives.” Lutnick plans to resign as chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald if confirmed. — “As head of the Commerce Department, which promotes the interests of U.S. businesses abroad, Mr. Lutnick would oversee all tariff and trade policy, Mr. Trump has said. That would include Greenland, if the president’s efforts to expand the country’s role on the island are successful.” UNMASKING CONNECTIONS: Years before Tulsi Gabbard was tapped by the president to coordinate the country’s spy agencies, her congressional campaign hired a PR firm to suppress coverage an an alleged scheme connected to her Hindu sect, Brett Forrest, Caitlin Ostroff and Rebecca Feng write for The Wall Street Journal. — The former House member and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence was raised in the Science of Identity Foundation, a sect tied to multilevel marketing firm QI Group accused of running a pyramid scheme in several countries. Trying to mask the connections, Gabbard’s campaign paid D.C.-based Potomac Square Group for the cleanup. A Science of Identity Follower and longtime Gabbard adviser who sits on the board of a QI Group subsidiary ordered the operation. — “Lawmakers have looked closely at Gabbard’s connections with Science of Identity and QI ahead of her confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to people familiar with the matter. Gabbard’s ties raise questions about her judgment and loyalty, congressional staffers said.”
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