Mike Johnson’s Top Policy Adviser Is Former Lobbyist...
Apr 18, 2024 3:10:45 GMT -5
Post by ExquisiteGerbil on Apr 18, 2024 3:10:45 GMT -5
Mike Johnson’s Top Policy Adviser Is Former Lobbyist: Clients Have Corporate Interest in Ukraine War
WENDELL HUSEBØ and MATTHEW BOYLE
17 Apr 2024Washington, DC
The inside story of how House Speaker Mike Johnson was flip-flopped on Ukraine aid starts with his top policy adviser, a former lobbyist whose clients include a number of major companies who have issued corporate statements indicating some kind of interest in the war.
Johnson’s policy director, Dan Ziegler, was–until he joined the Speaker’s office as his top policy aide when Johnson won the Speakership last year–a lobbyist with the firm Williams & Jensen. He had previously worked for Johnson in other capacities, but left Johnson to become a lobbyist and accumulated a client list that included several top companies–some of which seem to have a financial interest in seeing Congress pass Ukraine aid. The lobbying firm for which he worked represents a number of top companies. Lobbying disclosures reveal Ziegler represented many of these companies, including several that have made corporate statements about the war in Ukraine or issued press statements or other public guidance saying it could affect their business operations.
What’s more, Ziegler also represented the highly controversial News Media Alliance, which was lobbying Congress when he worked for Williams & Jensen to push a dangerous proposal that would have severely hurt conservative media. That proposal, called the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), has died several times in Congress but has kept coming back to life thanks to lobbyist pressure.
Ziegler is not the only one in Johnson’s inner circle who has issues. Several other staffers working for Johnson have a series of troubling developments in their backgrounds, and as of now it is unclear if the Speaker himself is aware of all of this or not. Either way, this raises serious questions about his management of the conference and his handling of major legislative proposals like the foreign aid plan before Congress this week–and it undercuts the explanation several Johnson apologists have offered up that he is just having a tough time managing a one-seat majority and things would not be different if he resigned and Republicans picked a new Speaker.
This Breitbart News investigation is the product of research of lobbying disclosures, interviews with a number of highly-connected insiders–most of whom would not speak on record for fear of reprisal–and aggressive questioning of the Speaker’s office and his staff, including questioning of top aides. Here, for the first time, is the inside story of how globalists undercut the America First movement from inside Speaker Johnson’s office, and how the Speaker himself has now authorized them to go scorched earth in attacks against any conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump who seek to hold him accountable and block the four-pronged foreign aid scheme he outlined on Monday evening and introduced on Wednesday. The Speaker intends to set up a Saturday evening vote in the House of Representatives on the plan that completely abandons border security and instead pushes to funnel tens of billions more U.S. tax dollars to foreign countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In a string of recent betrayals by the Speaker–the recent government funding plan and last week’s reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) without a requirement for warrants for surveillance on American citizens–this one stings America First conservatives even more. Despite calls for his resignation from top conservative Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY)–who say they are prepared to vote to remove Johnson by force if necessary–Johnson has tripled down in moving forward on the matter, not just completely ignoring conservatives aligned with former President Donald Trump who are openly criticizing the effort, but authorizing staff and allies like House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) to attack them in order to achieve congressional passage of this radical agenda. McCaul, as Breitbart News reported earlier on Wednesday, launched an unhinged attack on Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) over Ukraine aid. McCaul is one of Johnson’s top allies and quickly endorsed Johnson’s foreign aid framework without even having read the plan because it had yet been introduced when he publicly backed it. A day later, finally, the Speaker’s office released bill text.
Meet the Men Who Flip-Flopped Johnson
The people behind this plot are a collection of interesting individuals, most of whom the public has never heard of. The Speaker’s top two advisers, Policy Director Dan Ziegler and National Security Adviser Josh Hodges, are per multiple sources familiar with the matter, the top two aides within the Speaker’s office intently pushing him to flip-flop on Ukraine aide. Before Johnson became Speaker, Johnson voted against $47 billion designated to defend Ukraine’s border. “The process for passing this bill is almost as ugly as the substance: written behind closed doors, released Monday overnight, and brought for a vote before anyone could possibly read it—much less debate or amend it,” Johnson said at the time.
He also voted with Greene on an amendment just last year that would have stripped $300 million that went to Ukraine out of the September 2023 Pentagon Appropriations package. So how did Johnson go from opposing even a measly sum like $300 million–and opposing things like the $47 billion at the end of now former House Speaker Pelosi’s term in late 2022–to supporting sending even more than either of those sums, more than $48 billion, to Ukraine? The answer appears to be in who the Speaker surrounded himself with on his paid staff.
Johnson’s tune on Ukraine changed when he became Speaker and hired Ziegler and Hodges, two men who previously worked for Johnson during his tenure as a back-bench representative. On Wednesday, Johnson’s office unveiled a complicated scheme that includes a standalone vote on tens of billions in American taxpayer aid to Ukraine.
The process of the vote entails Johnson retracting promises he made to conservatives to win the Speaker’s gavel.
The legislation will likely only pass the House if enough Democrats support the measure.
Johnson’s scheme infuriated conservatives and some Republican lawmakers, who accuse Johnson of pushing President Joe Biden’s agenda and advocating for Ukraine’s border instead of America’s southern border.
“I don’t think Ziegler and Hodges are cut out for these roles. And the results speak for themselves,” a source familiar with the inner workings of Johnson’s office told Breitbart News. “Sadly, the Republican Conference and Americans will bear the brunt of their poor counsel.”
“House members should know that these two are at the table making bad calls, both strategically and substantively,” the source added.
Raj Shah, the Speaker’s deputy chief of staff for communications, has not answered a detailed inquiry from Breitbart News about Ziegler and Hodges. Upon receiving questions about them, Shah asked Breitbart News to speak off record on the matter–a request that Breitbart News denied him given the seriousness of these issues and questions. Shah has not provided any on record commentary and has not answered in depth questions about them.
Shah himself is another interesting figure in this whole mix of things. The top press spokesman for Johnson, he previously worked at the Republican National Committee (RNC), then moved into Trump’s White House for some time. In that timeframe, Shah appeared in public sometimes as a White House spokesman and backup option for then Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders–who is now the governor of Arkansas–but then he left the White House and went to work at Fox Corporation alongside now former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Shah’s communications were among those revealed in the legal matter between Fox News and Dominion, in which he was regularly listed as a top official there alongside Ryan.
Shah has emerged as a key enforcer of Johnson’s communications structure, blocking and tackling any criticisms that come at the Speaker from the right. On his account on X–the platform formerly known as Twitter–Shah has in recent days elevated several Never Trump establishment Republicans who have backed Johnson amid criticisms from Greene and Massie among others. Shah has promoted the following messages from people including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox:
Long article continued at link
WENDELL HUSEBØ and MATTHEW BOYLE
17 Apr 2024Washington, DC
The inside story of how House Speaker Mike Johnson was flip-flopped on Ukraine aid starts with his top policy adviser, a former lobbyist whose clients include a number of major companies who have issued corporate statements indicating some kind of interest in the war.
Johnson’s policy director, Dan Ziegler, was–until he joined the Speaker’s office as his top policy aide when Johnson won the Speakership last year–a lobbyist with the firm Williams & Jensen. He had previously worked for Johnson in other capacities, but left Johnson to become a lobbyist and accumulated a client list that included several top companies–some of which seem to have a financial interest in seeing Congress pass Ukraine aid. The lobbying firm for which he worked represents a number of top companies. Lobbying disclosures reveal Ziegler represented many of these companies, including several that have made corporate statements about the war in Ukraine or issued press statements or other public guidance saying it could affect their business operations.
What’s more, Ziegler also represented the highly controversial News Media Alliance, which was lobbying Congress when he worked for Williams & Jensen to push a dangerous proposal that would have severely hurt conservative media. That proposal, called the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), has died several times in Congress but has kept coming back to life thanks to lobbyist pressure.
Ziegler is not the only one in Johnson’s inner circle who has issues. Several other staffers working for Johnson have a series of troubling developments in their backgrounds, and as of now it is unclear if the Speaker himself is aware of all of this or not. Either way, this raises serious questions about his management of the conference and his handling of major legislative proposals like the foreign aid plan before Congress this week–and it undercuts the explanation several Johnson apologists have offered up that he is just having a tough time managing a one-seat majority and things would not be different if he resigned and Republicans picked a new Speaker.
This Breitbart News investigation is the product of research of lobbying disclosures, interviews with a number of highly-connected insiders–most of whom would not speak on record for fear of reprisal–and aggressive questioning of the Speaker’s office and his staff, including questioning of top aides. Here, for the first time, is the inside story of how globalists undercut the America First movement from inside Speaker Johnson’s office, and how the Speaker himself has now authorized them to go scorched earth in attacks against any conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump who seek to hold him accountable and block the four-pronged foreign aid scheme he outlined on Monday evening and introduced on Wednesday. The Speaker intends to set up a Saturday evening vote in the House of Representatives on the plan that completely abandons border security and instead pushes to funnel tens of billions more U.S. tax dollars to foreign countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In a string of recent betrayals by the Speaker–the recent government funding plan and last week’s reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) without a requirement for warrants for surveillance on American citizens–this one stings America First conservatives even more. Despite calls for his resignation from top conservative Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY)–who say they are prepared to vote to remove Johnson by force if necessary–Johnson has tripled down in moving forward on the matter, not just completely ignoring conservatives aligned with former President Donald Trump who are openly criticizing the effort, but authorizing staff and allies like House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) to attack them in order to achieve congressional passage of this radical agenda. McCaul, as Breitbart News reported earlier on Wednesday, launched an unhinged attack on Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) over Ukraine aid. McCaul is one of Johnson’s top allies and quickly endorsed Johnson’s foreign aid framework without even having read the plan because it had yet been introduced when he publicly backed it. A day later, finally, the Speaker’s office released bill text.
Meet the Men Who Flip-Flopped Johnson
The people behind this plot are a collection of interesting individuals, most of whom the public has never heard of. The Speaker’s top two advisers, Policy Director Dan Ziegler and National Security Adviser Josh Hodges, are per multiple sources familiar with the matter, the top two aides within the Speaker’s office intently pushing him to flip-flop on Ukraine aide. Before Johnson became Speaker, Johnson voted against $47 billion designated to defend Ukraine’s border. “The process for passing this bill is almost as ugly as the substance: written behind closed doors, released Monday overnight, and brought for a vote before anyone could possibly read it—much less debate or amend it,” Johnson said at the time.
He also voted with Greene on an amendment just last year that would have stripped $300 million that went to Ukraine out of the September 2023 Pentagon Appropriations package. So how did Johnson go from opposing even a measly sum like $300 million–and opposing things like the $47 billion at the end of now former House Speaker Pelosi’s term in late 2022–to supporting sending even more than either of those sums, more than $48 billion, to Ukraine? The answer appears to be in who the Speaker surrounded himself with on his paid staff.
Johnson’s tune on Ukraine changed when he became Speaker and hired Ziegler and Hodges, two men who previously worked for Johnson during his tenure as a back-bench representative. On Wednesday, Johnson’s office unveiled a complicated scheme that includes a standalone vote on tens of billions in American taxpayer aid to Ukraine.
The process of the vote entails Johnson retracting promises he made to conservatives to win the Speaker’s gavel.
The legislation will likely only pass the House if enough Democrats support the measure.
Johnson’s scheme infuriated conservatives and some Republican lawmakers, who accuse Johnson of pushing President Joe Biden’s agenda and advocating for Ukraine’s border instead of America’s southern border.
“I don’t think Ziegler and Hodges are cut out for these roles. And the results speak for themselves,” a source familiar with the inner workings of Johnson’s office told Breitbart News. “Sadly, the Republican Conference and Americans will bear the brunt of their poor counsel.”
“House members should know that these two are at the table making bad calls, both strategically and substantively,” the source added.
Raj Shah, the Speaker’s deputy chief of staff for communications, has not answered a detailed inquiry from Breitbart News about Ziegler and Hodges. Upon receiving questions about them, Shah asked Breitbart News to speak off record on the matter–a request that Breitbart News denied him given the seriousness of these issues and questions. Shah has not provided any on record commentary and has not answered in depth questions about them.
Shah himself is another interesting figure in this whole mix of things. The top press spokesman for Johnson, he previously worked at the Republican National Committee (RNC), then moved into Trump’s White House for some time. In that timeframe, Shah appeared in public sometimes as a White House spokesman and backup option for then Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders–who is now the governor of Arkansas–but then he left the White House and went to work at Fox Corporation alongside now former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Shah’s communications were among those revealed in the legal matter between Fox News and Dominion, in which he was regularly listed as a top official there alongside Ryan.
Shah has emerged as a key enforcer of Johnson’s communications structure, blocking and tackling any criticisms that come at the Speaker from the right. On his account on X–the platform formerly known as Twitter–Shah has in recent days elevated several Never Trump establishment Republicans who have backed Johnson amid criticisms from Greene and Massie among others. Shah has promoted the following messages from people including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox:
Long article continued at link