With Daniel Lippman, Nick Taylor-Vaisey FARA FRIDAY: Attorney General Pam Bondi moved quickly this week to put her stamp on DOJ’s approach to federal foreign influence laws, ordering the rollback of an enforcement crackdown that began during the first Trump administration, as PI explored on Thursday. — But DOJ isn’t the only body in Washington that’s begun to look more closely at FARA over the past decade or so, and one of FARA’s top cheerleaders in Congress is vowing that Bondi’s memo won’t be the last word on this. — “MUST B VERY AGGRESSIVE on foreign agent registration enforcement,” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote in a thread on X last night, praising Bondi for directing DOJ to focus on civil enforcement of FARA as well as for her order shuttering the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which he has accused of targeting him for political reasons during the Biden administration. — Grassley went on to pledge that he would conduct oversight of Bondi’s memo and “continue my work to tighten foreign agent registration thru law.” Grassley has long been outspoken about the need for changes to FARA, and in written questions for Bondi following her confirmation hearing last month he lamented “lax and selective enforcement” of FARA. — Grassley also pressed Bondi to commit to “ensuring” that the FARA Unit “has the necessary resources and tools to equally and consistently administer and enforce” the statute, but she skirted another question from Grassley about which countries’ “malign foreign actors” she would direct the FARA Unit to pay especially close attention to as AG. — Some of Grassley’s past legislative pushes appear to be at odds with Bondi’s directive to focus criminal enforcement on alleged conduct “similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors,” rather than the lobbying and public affairs campaigns to which the statute has sought to bring transparency. The senator “has consistently sought greater enforcement and fewer exceptions” to FARA, noted Tom Spulak, who advises clients on complying with FARA at King & Spalding. — For example: Grassley has sought to root out “abuses” of FARA’s exemption for Lobbying Disclosure Act registrants along with eliminating that exemption entirely for agents of certain countries. He also introduced bills that would equip the FARA Unit with additional investigative authorities and close the gaping loophole that blocks DOJ from forcing someone to register as a foreign agent retroactively — measures DOJ had called for as well. — So even if Main Justice is stepping back on FARA, Spulak warned that it’d be wise for lobbyists to remain concerned about what Congress could do. “All it would take is one scandal to bring attention to FARA and calls for renewed enforcement,” he said, predicting that if Grassley “pushed hard on legislation, he would be joined unanimously by Democrats.” — Grassley isn’t the only lawmaker planning to remain engaged on foreign influence matters. “FARA reform continues to be a priority for members of this committee, and I anticipate our work to modernize this important law will continue,” Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) told PI in a statement, adding that “our foreign agent laws must be easier to understand, applied fairly and consistently, and address growing efforts by China, Russia, and other adversaries to exploit existing loopholes to undermine our national security.” — And a spokesperson for the House Select China Committee, which has been active on FARA issues as well, told PI that “proper enforcement of FARA is critical to addressing China’s influence operations” and said the panel “looks forward to working closely with the Administration to uphold and enforce FARA to ensure transparency, protecting our country from the CCP threat.” TGIF and welcome to PI. Send influence tips and gossip for me to run down: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. TRUMP’S LATEST BUREAUCRATIC TARGET: President Donald Trump “moved this week to fire the chair of the Federal Election Commission, Democrat Ellen Weintraub, the latest in a line of ousters of Democratic-aligned regulators across the government,” per our Andrew Howard. — “Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of @FEC. There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn’t it,” Weintraub wrote on X last night. “I’ve been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way. That’s not changing anytime soon.” — “The FEC’s website lists Weintraub’s seat as vacant as of Friday morning. But in an interview Friday, she contended her removal was illegal. ‘I am not aware of an FEC commissioner ever having been fired,’ Weintraub said. ‘There’s nothing in the Federal Election Campaign Act that suggests that that is an option.’” — Weintraub, whose term wrapped up in 2007, “is one of a group of commissioners that has served after their terms expired, although members are allowed to remain until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate,” a step Trump has yet to take. Weintraub said she had not heard from the White House and warned that her ouster would bring the campaign finance watchdog to within one seat of losing its quorum. FARA FRIDAY, PART II: Because there hasn’t been enough FARA news this week: Checkmate Government Relations, the North Carolina lobbying firm run by a friend of the Trump family that has a newly opened D.C. office, has signed its first foreign lobbying client. — The firm registered this week to represent Canada’s Council of the Federation — essentially the Canadian counterpart of the National Governors Association — according to DOJ filings. Filings show that Ches McDowell, Checkmate’s managing partner, is helping Canada’s premiers with strategic consulting and outreach to U.S. officials ahead of a visit to Washington next week by the Federation — a contract worth $85,000 per month. McDowell is a hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr. and accompanied Trump Jr. on a falconry trip with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last fall, according to social media posts. — The hire — and next week’s lobbying trip — come amid a cease-fire in the potential North American trade war that began when Trump threatened to slap a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy exports and a 25 percent tariff on all other exports from our northern neighbor without commitments on border security. — Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brokered a truce before the levies went into effect — but not before threats of retaliation by Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said he would also bar American companies from contracting with the province and rip up an agreement with Elon Musk’s Starlink. Ford will be part of next week’s trade mission, which will include meetings with members of the administration, Congress and business leaders. — Chris LaCivita Jr., the son of Trump’s co-campaign manager and a spokesperson for Checkmate, declined to comment on its work for the Federation beyond the FARA filings and didn’t rule out taking on more foreign clients in the future. — “Given the vital importance of North Carolina on national elections and the firm’s existing relationships with members of the Trump administration, as well as prior D.C. work experience, it only makes sense Checkmate has expanded its federal portfolio and officially entered the K-Street game,” he said. FIRST IN PI — PURPLE HITS A POTHOLE: Purple Strategies, the brand reputation and public affairs firm, on Wednesday laid off 18 of its employees on Wednesday, or about 10 percent of the company, three people familiar with the matter told Daniel. — Kristen Morgante, a firm managing partner and COO, and Steve McMahon, Purple’s co-founder and CEO, announced the layoffs to staff on an all-employee call, saying it was “terrible news” but happened because of the broader business climate. The jobs eliminated primarily included people working in content, creative, media planning and buying. — Some employees were surprised at how the layoffs affected a broad range of levels of the firm instead of just junior people, said one of the people. It’s “a close-knit company and everyone really likes each other so when something like this happens, it’s a shock no matter what,” said another. — “This is an unfortunate but normal part of the business cycle, when companies like ours sometimes need to adjust the size of the workforce based on activities that unwind following an election cycle,” McMahon said in a statement to PI. FORBES TATE ADDS A REPUBLICAN: Tori Smith is leaving the Hill, where she served as a policy adviser to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on tax, trade and fintech, to join Forbes Tate Partners as a senior vice president. Prior to joining Blackburn’s office, Smith was director of international economic policy at the conservative think tank American Action Forum and before that she spent more than six years working on trade policy for the Heritage Foundation. ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: “A political action committee started by EPA chief Lee Zeldin took a $50,000 contribution from a company tied to a businessman and former plastic industry executive,” E&E News’ Tim Cama reports. “The donation to Leadership America Needs came Nov. 29, 2024, nearly three weeks” after Trump said he’d nominate the former lawmaker to lead EPA. SPOTTED on Wednesday at a 20th anniversary celebration for Mindset at their new Massachusetts Avenue offices, per a tipster: Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.), Scott Fitzgerald (R-Mich.), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), William Timmons (R-S.C.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Judd Smith of AWS, Patrick Ottenhoff and Margaret Simmons of Visa, Ryan Eaton and Nana Nyanin of Rocket Companies, Tom Gannon and Mary Kate Clemont of LPL Financial, Randall Ross of SMBC, Baker Elmore of Duke Energy, Daniel Nestel of FICO, Kirk Willison of Arch, Dan Taylor of HSBC, Brittany Kelm of Shell, Gizelle Wray of the Solar Energy Industry Association, Kerry Cole and Amber Milenkevich of New York Life Insurance and James Sonne of Prudential. — And at an open house to commemorate the newly merged Troutman Pepper Locke LLP and Troutman Strategies, per a tipster: Robb Willis, Lindsay Austin, Clark Lewis, Ragen Marsh, Robert Miller, Jason Zanetti, Kirk Dillard, Stephen Piepgrass, Charles Sensiba, Chuck Slemp, Karin Addison, Kade Cullefer, Mike Mannion, Jay Myers, Neftali Partida, Tom Tilton, Chris Baxter, Ryan Diffley, Crystal Brown, Kaitlyn Murphy, Elizabeth Parker, Matt Ralston, Hannah Irvin, Max Turner and Nicole Goshorn of Troutman; House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Reps. Jimmy Panetta(D-Calif.), Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) and Craig Goldman (R-Texas); Mariann Yeager of The Sequoia Project, Deron Hicks of Global Payments, Courtney Lawrence of Cigna, Dave Cobb and Pat Malone of HDR Inc., Matt Ater of Vispero, Alan Katz of Civitas Networks for Health, Joby Young of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Andrew Ross of Shoals Technologies Group and more.
| 
