Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World

31. Department of Justice, “Former Advisor to Presidential Candidate Among Three Defendants Charged with Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government,” press release, July 20, 2021.

32. Rebecca Davis O’Brien, “Former Trump Adviser Acquitted on Charges of Acting as Emirati Agent,” New York Times, November 4, 2022.

33. Ibid.

34. Jacqueline Thomsen, “Casino Tycoon Wynn Defeats U.S. Lawsuit over Chinese Agent Claims,” Reuters, October 12, 2022.

35. Devan Cole, “Steve Wynn Can’t Be Forced to Register as a Foreign Agent of China, Judge Rules,” CNN, October 12, 2022.

36. McKinsey’s filings can be found in the FARA database, including: https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6852-Registration-Statement-20200810-1.pdf.

37. Katie Benner, Mark Mazzetti, Ben Hubbard, and Mike Isaac, “Saudis’ Image Makers: A Troll Army and a Twitter Insider,” New York Times, October 20, 2018.

38. Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, “How McKinsey Has Helped Raise the Stature of Authoritarian Governments,” New York Times, December 15, 2018.

39. Sheelah Kolhatkar, “McKinsey’s Work for Saudi Arabia Highlights Its History of Unsavory Entanglements,” New Yorker, November 1, 2018.

40. Taylor Giorno and Anna Massoglia, “Saudi Arabia Ramped Up U.S. Influence Operations During Biden’s Presidency,” Open Secrets, October 7, 2022.

41. Ben Freeman, “It’s Time to Silence the Saudi Lobbying Machine in Washington,” Washington Post, October 22, 2018.

42. Ben Freeman, “The Saudi Lobby Builds Back Better,” The Intercept, August 25, 2022.

43. Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones, “Retired U.S. Generals, Admirals Take Top Jobs with Saudi Crown Prince,” Washington Post, October 18, 2022.

44. Jeremy Herb, “Mattis Advised UAE Military Before Joining Trump Administration,” CNN, August 2, 2017.

45. Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones, “UAE Relied on Expertise of Retired U.S. Troops to Beef Up Its Military,” Washington Post, October 18, 2022.

17. MR. LEE’S PUBLICITY BOOK

1. Quoted in Sean Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006).

2. Dan Mangan, “Federal Authorities Bar Ex-Trump Campaign Chief Paul Manafort from Dubai Flight Because of Invalid Passport,” CNBC, March 23, 2022.

3. John Hudson, “U.S. Intelligence Report Says Key Gulf Ally Meddled in American Politics,” Washington Post, November 12, 2022.

4. Jonathan Guyer, “Where in the World Are Russians Going to Avoid Sanctions?,” Vox, August 9, 2022.

5. Eugene Daniels, “Politico Playbook: Biden Braces for Brutal Inflation Numbers,” Politico, April 12, 2022.

6. Paul Manafort, Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced (New York: Skyhorse, 2022).

7. “Foreign Lobby Watch,” Open Secrets, https://www.opensecrets.org/fara, accessed 3 March 2023.

8. Much of the spike in these Russian expenditures stems from the fact that the federal government forced RT’s parent company to register with FARA in 2017. See Devlin Barrett and David Filipov, “RT Agrees to Register as an Agent of the Russian Government,” Washington Post, November 9, 2017.

9. Casey Michel, American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History (New York: St. Martin’s, 2021).

10. Hailey Fuchs, “How Russian Entities Are Retaining Much of Their D.C. Lobbying Influence,” Politico, March 22, 2022.

11. Josh Rogin, “It’s Time to Shut Down the Foreign Dictator Lobbying Racket,” Washington Post, October 5, 2022.

12. Office of Rep. Steve Cohen, “Representatives Cohen, Wilson, Banks, and Slotkin Introduce the Bipartisan Stop Helping Adversaries Manipulate Everything (SHAME) Act,” press release, October 5, 2022.

13. Office of Rep. Jared Golden, “Golden, Bipartisan Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Combat Foreign Influence in Washington,” press release, June 16, 2022.

14. Casey Michel, “Congress Takes Aim at Think Tanks and Their Corrupt Money,” New Republic, June 27, 2022.

15. Emily Wilkins, “GOP Changes Stir Fears About the Future of House Ethics Office,” Bloomberg Government, January 17, 2023.

16. Ivy Lee with Burton St. John III, Mr. Lee’s Publicity Book: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Relations (New York: PRMuseum Press, 2017).

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. “#EthicsMatter—Ivy Lee and the First Code of Ethics,” Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, Zurich, February 19, 2021.

20. “Rise of the Image Men,” The Economist, December 16, 2010.

21. Gary McCormick, “Merely ‘Image Men’? Hardly,” Public Relations Society of America, December 20, 2010.

22. For instance, the “Code of Ethics” for McCormick’s organization is silent as it pertains to American PR specialists aiding dictators. See “Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Code of Ethics,” n.d., https://web.archive.org/web/20140115230822/https://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/#.UtcU7XbP23A.

23. Adam Lowenstein, “The American PR Firm Helping Saudi Arabia Clean Up Its Image,” The Guardian, December 22, 2022.

24. Hailey Fuchs, “The Daily Show Meets Riyadh! How a Giant PR Firm Is Pitching the Saudis,” Politico, July 17, 2022.