WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors are investigating Barry Bennett, a Republican lobby and unpaid campaign adviser to former President Donald Trump, for allegations that he secretly created and funded a U.S.-based advocacy group without revealing his links to the United States. government of Qatar, according to people who know the subject.
Bennett founded his pressure company, Avenue Strategies, shortly after the Trump election and signed to represent Qatar a few months later, according to the firm’s federal lobbying disclosure records. The small Gulf nation, which hosts a large U.S. Air Force base, was at the time embroiled in a political and diplomatic conflict with its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Qatari embassy paid Mr. Bennett’s firm about $ 3 million in total between July 2017 and July 2018 for work that included developing “a long-term plan to create closer ties between the United States and the United States.” “State of Qatar”, according to records.
Prosecutors have presented evidence to a grand jury alleging that Mr. Bennett created and funded a political group called the Yemen Crisis Watch, according to people who knew the issue, as a way to embarrass Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. , who at the time were involved in a military campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. That war has left thousands dead and fueled what the United Nations described in 2019 as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Yemen Crisis Watch was never registered with the U.S. government, as it would have been required to do so under the Foreign Agents Registration Act if it represented foreign interests. Bennett did not report that he created and funded the organization, according to a review of FARA presentations. Qatar awarded Avenue Strategies $ 250,000 in October 2017 intended “to be used to support the relief of humanitarian suffering in Yemen,” according to a pressure document.