With Daniel Lippman

FARA FRIDAY: An Albanian opposition leader and former prime minister has turned to K Street to seek an inquiry into the circumstances that led to him being banned from entering the U.S. two years ago.

— Sali Berisha served as the Balkan nation’s president from 1992 to 1997 and its prime minister from 2005 to 2013, and now leads Albania’s center-right Democratic Party. In 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced he was barring Berisha and his family from traveling to the U.S., accusing the former leader of being involved in “corrupt acts, such as misappropriation of public funds and interfering with public processes, including using his power for his own benefit and to enrich his political allies and his family members” during his time in power.

— But following the indictment in January of former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official Charles McGonigal in part for alleged side dealings with a former Albanian intelligence operative and Albania’s current prime minister — who’s now facing corruption accusations of his own from Berisha’s party — while still with the bureau, Berisha apparently sees an opening to press his case with officials in Washington.

— He’s enlisted Prime Policy Group’s Charlie Black, a former adviser on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and John McCain, who registered this week to represent Berisha in Washington pro bono, according to documents filed with the Justice Department.

— Berisha denies the corruption allegations and has faced no charges in Albania. He blames the accusations on his successor as prime minister, Edi Rama of the ruling center-left Socialist Party, whose interests U.S. prosecutors say the former FBI agent McGonigal illegally took money to advance — including allegedly nudging his then-colleagues at the bureau to open an investigation into an American registered to lobby for Berisha’s party, relying on information that had originated from Rama’s office.

— Berisha’s cause has previously piqued the interest of Republicans on the Hill, and Black told PI he plans to press members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee to investigate whether there is any connection between McGonigal’s dealings in Albania and the Biden administration’s “misguided” decision to sanction Berisha and his family, which Black conceded he wasn’t aware of any evidence for.

— “Congress receives regular reports from the State Department about the reasons for a persona non grata declaration,” he said in a statement, calling on lawmakers to “investigate how this particular declaration came about.”

— His firm represented the Albanian government during Berisha’s administration, and in a separate interview Black said that he’d become friends with Berisha over the years and that the two had kept in touch occasionally.

— “There may be classified information somewhere that contradicts what I’m saying, but I don’t know, so I want some responsible people to look into it,” he said. Black, who noted that Albania joined NATO and the EU under Berisha’s rule, also scoffed at recent suggestions Berisha might be aligned with the Kremlin, insisting that “nothing could be farther from the truth, when I knew the guy.”

TGIF and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected]. Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

HOW EMBASSIES BECAME THE NEW K STREET: Washington’s embassies, “which are hosting droves of partygoers this week for festivities around the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” have “historically operated somewhere on the spectrum between diplomacy and lobbying,” Daniel and our Hailey Fuchs write in some essential pre-WHCD weekend reading.

— These days, tony ambassadors’ residences have evolved more than ever into “one of the few places in town where electeds and their hangers-on from both parties mix and mingle on neutral ground without a second thought.” The embassies “exist first and foremost to do their government’s bidding. But if a measure of goodwill between nations can be achieved in the course of a good party, all the better.”

ANNALS OF THE REVOLVING DOOR: “An array of new federal intelligence and military offices have been launched in recent years with one overriding goal: to connect the slow-moving federal bureaucracy to private, venture capital-backed companies doing cutting-edge work,” Vox’s Jonathan Guyer reports. “All these efforts can pose a set of ethical quandaries given the blurry line between the public interest and corporate interests. And a recent career move illustrates those stakes.”

— “This week, lawyer Linda Lourie announced that she was joining the Pentagon’s newly established Office of Strategic Capital, which is designed to connect military-tech companies with private investors, as a part-time consultant. She posted on LinkedIn how excited she was to ‘attract and scale private capital for emerging and frontier technologies in support of national security.’”

— “What stood out, however, is that she would maintain her private-sector job at WestExec Advisors, the ultra-connected Washington consultancy that works with tech and defense companies. The work of the Office of Strategic Capital is remarkably similar to the services that WestExec provides. Now, she would be working in the private and public sectors at the same time. The career shift for Lourie appears messy, but it is not illegal.

— A Pentagon spokesperson told Guyer that Lourie would be contributing to “broad policy discussions” rather than specific investment decisions. “But government ethics experts say it will be hard to verify no conflicts arose in those policy discussions,” in part because her role will require fewer disclosures than a typical government employee.

CRYPTO THROWS IN FOR SINEMA: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s small-dollar fundraising may have plummeted since her last Senate campaign, but should she run for reelection next year, the Arizona independent “has amassed a hearty war chest, thanks in part to six-figure contributions from crypto stakeholders pouring in since she joined a congressional caucus that sought to explore issues that would affect their industry,” The Intercept’s Akela Lacy and Daniel Boguslaw report.

— “The windfall from the crypto industry completes a two-year arc for Sinema, who went from being a proponent of regulations that some crypto giants opposed to a force for compromise with the industry. The softened legislation on regulations fell by the wayside, though Sinema’s crypto donations kept pouring in.”

— “In the last three years, Sinema has taken in almost a half a million dollars from crypto businesses and investors. In 2021, as her position on regulating crypto eased, she raised at least $175,000 in campaign cash from the industry. Between 2022 and 2023, her campaign has received more than $330,000 from crypto companies and firms with crypto holdings.”

— “Some of the largest Sinema campaign contributions over the last four years came from employees at massive private equity firms who began investing heavily in crypto and blockchain technologies in the run up to the formation of Sinema’s new caucus. … According to Sinema’s most recent financial disclosures, fundraising from crypto-aligned interests isn’t slowing down.”

REPUBLICANS FACE OFF WITH WINRED: “A battle over a threatened price increase has exposed growing tensions between top Republican Party officials and the company with a virtual monopoly on processing Republican campaign contributions online,” The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher reports.

— “Party leaders have risen up in opposition to the plan to raise prices, which would siphon millions of dollars from G.O.P. campaigns less than 20 months after the company, WinRed, had said its finances were robust enough to forego an extra fee on every transaction.”

— “In a series of private meetings in recent weeks, Gerrit Lansing, the president of WinRed, has told the leaders of the Republican National Committee, the House and Senate campaign arms and former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign that WinRed’s prices needed to go up. The Republican officials all objected.”

— “Mr. Lansing’s company, a private for-profit firm responsible for processing almost all online Republican political donations, charges 3.94 percent of almost every donation made online. But he said it wasn’t enough, citing an unforeseen slowdown in online G.O.P. giving last year and also plans to broaden WinRed’s suite of services.”

— “He moved to impose a 30-cent transaction fee on each of the tens of millions of coming contributions in the 2024 race, according to several people directly involved in or briefed on the conversations.”

— The swift outcry from campaigns appears to have stalled the plan for now, “but the episode has accelerated conversations at the party’s highest levels about the decision four years ago to clear the way for WinRed to dominate the online donation-processing field, and about whether the for-profit company’s model needs to be reassessed.”

Jobs Report

SPOTTED at an Ogilvy Government Relations reception Thursday celebrating their newest principal, Jen Daulby, per a PI tipster: Reps. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), August Pfluger (R-Texas), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Rodney Davis of Cozen O’Connor, Brett Horton and Bart Reising of Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office, Tim Monahan of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office, Nick Crocker and Caleb Hays of the Committee on House Administration, Vivian Moeglein of the House National Resources Committee, Jeff Butler of Rep. Patrick McHenry’s (R-N.C.) office, Ryan Carney of Rep. Bryan Steil’s (R-Wis.) office, Cesar Gonzalez of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s (R-Fla.) office, Molly Harris Stevens of Rep.Jake Ellzey’s (R-Texas) office, Chris Crawford of Rep. Buddy Carter’s office (R-Ga.), Nancy Peele of Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-Ark.) office, Desiree Koetzle of Rep. Pete Stauber’s (R-Minn.) office, Laura Enquist of Balderson’s office, Carrie Meadows of the U.S. Beet Sugar Association, and Dana Brooks of the Pet Food Institute.

— And at a reception at Forbes-Tate Partners hosted by The Suburban Project to celebrate the House Suburban Caucus and newly elected members from suburban districts, per a tipster: Suburban Project’s Bob Dold and Barbara Comstock, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.), Colin Allen of the American Property Owners Alliance, Dan Roehl of the National Restaurant Association, Emily Tryon of the American Land Title Association, Saul Anuzis of the 60 Plus Association, Jilian Souza of Altria, Becky Tallent of Anywhere Real Estate, James Robertson of AT&T, Ed Hill of the Bank Policy Institute, Heather Reams, Shawn Affolter, Liz Daniells and Evan Dixon of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Ryan Lindsey of CRH Americas, Jeff Strunk, Stephanie Genco, Jeff Sadosky and Rick Murphy of Forbes-Tate, Chris Berry of OhioX, John Covello of the Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, Torrey Shearer of JTI USA, Amy Porter of Kyle House Group, Scott Matus of Lucid Motors, Amy Tenhouse of Molina Healthcare, Doug Lathrop of New York Life Insurance Company, Charlie Keller and Arthur Bryant of Rep. Ann Wagner’s (R-Mo.) office, Patrick Rooney of Swisher International, Matt Keelen of The Vogel Group, Matt Orr of Fry’s office and Noah Sadlier of Rep. Mike Garcia’s (R-Calif.) office.

— The U.S. Cannabis Council has added Edward Conklin as executive director and David Culver as senior vice president of public affairs. Conklin was previously senior vice president of government relations at Curaleaf and Culver was previously vice president of government relations at Canopy Growth.

— Latoya Veal has joined TikTok’s policy communications team. She was most recently at Microsoft, and is a Hillary Clinton, Steny Hoyer and Maxine Waters alum.

— Sarah Potts Ashton is joining FGS Global as managing director. She previously was global director of policy communications at Gopuff and is an Obama White House and Uber alum.

New Joint Fundraisers

Pelosi Victory Committee (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, PAC TO THE FUTURE)

New PACs

All In To Win Virginia (Hybrid PAC)
Americans for Transportation Reform Inc. (Super PAC)
Anti-Robocalling Robocalling PAC, Inc. (Super PAC)
JUSTICE GUARD (Super PAC)
Power Block for Prosperity PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Team West Virginia (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Albertine Enterprises, Inc.: Semper Fi Labs
Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: American Association Of Suicidology
Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: Salute Home Loans
Dentons US LLP: Clark Street Associates (On Behalf Of Kepler Computing
Dentons US LLP: Clark Street Associates (On Behalf Of Rambus)
Dentons US LLP: Clark Street Associates (On Behalf Of USa Rare Earth)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Aerofarms, LLC)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Astranis Space Technologies, Inc)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Boston Metal)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Cyanco International, LLC)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Ionq, Inc.)
Dentons US LLP: Holland & Knight (On Behalf Of Nel USa)
Dentons US LLP: Metropolitan Pier And Exposition Authority
Dentons US LLP: Trucklabs
Green Mountain Strategies LLC Dc: Alvogen
Green Mountain Strategies LLC Dc: Compassus
Green Mountain Strategies LLC Dc: Gift Of Life Michigan
Green Mountain Strategies LLC Dc: Hogan Lovells (On Behalf Of The Organ Donation Advisory Group)
Green Mountain Strategies LLC Dc: Lifesource
Innovative Federal Strategies, LLC: Hpc Holdings
Jeffrey J. Kimbell And Associates: Nevro Corporation
Live Oak Strategies: Jst Strategic Technologies
Maynard Nexsen Pc: The Red Mountain Cut Foundation
Maynard Nexsen Pc: The University Of South Alabama
Mccartin Public Policy Group LLC: Polaris Project
O’Brien, Gentry & Scott, LLC: Zenith Aerospace
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc.
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Esg Clean Energy, LLC
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Samdesk
The Russell Group, Inc.: Food Solutions Action
Tiger Hill Partners LLC: Fortifi Financial, Inc.
Winn Strategies, LLC: The Climate Reality Project

New Lobbying Terminations

Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: Five Forks
Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: Ionic Security
Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: Pennsylvania Assisted Living Association (Pala)
Commonwealth Strategic Partners, LLC: Shipt
Crossfit, LLC: Crossfit, LLC
Hatton Partners, LLC: Commercial Real Estate Financial Council
K&L Gates, LLP: Commercial Spaceflight Federation
K&L Gates, LLP: Maxar Technologies Holdings Inc F/K/A Ssl Mda Holdings
K&L Gates, LLP: U.S. Global Leadership Coalition F/K/A U.S. Global Leadership Campaign
Water Strategies, LLC: Reinke Manufacturing Company, Inc.

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