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| John Sweeney |
John Sweeney, former New York Republican Congressman, is representing General Motors on legislative and regulatory matters in DC.
Elected to Congress in 1998, Sweeney was defeated in 2006 by now-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2006.
Sweeney, a conservative who enjoyed strong support from labor, has close ties to president Trump. He organized the 2016 New York GOP primary for Trump and then went on to lead on-the-ground efforts in Michigan and Wisconsin and serve on the transition team.
Sweeney also represents the interest of Russia's Vnesheconombank, which is a state-controlled investment bank.
His firm received $187,500 from VEB during the six-month period ended Feb. 29, 2020. President Obama sanctioned VEB in 2014 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.
Sweeney contacted the offices of Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, as well as former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, on behalf of VEB during the past year.
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company banned by Defense Secretary Hegseth, has hired Ballard Partners for DC representation.
The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development enrolls Venable for government relations services.
Coinbase has hired Checkmate Government Relations, which has close ties to the Trump administration, to handle matters related to digital assets as the Senate works on the Clarity Act.
Peter Thiel-backed Palantir Technologies has added Democratic firm Ferox Strategies to its DC lobbying line-up to handle data analytics and technology issues.
Former congressmen Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Jeff Denham (R-CA) have signed on to handle the “new” TikTok on issues related to internet technology and learning-enabled platforms.
