With Daniel Lippman

NEWS CORP. HIRES RESOLUTION: News Corp., the Rupert Murdoch-led publishing conglomerate whose properties include the New York Post, HarperCollins and more, hired a quartet of former Democratic Hill staffers from Resolution Public Affairs in March — the company’s second new outside lobbying firm so far this year.

— Resolution founder Heather McHugh and Elizabeth Stanley, who previously worked for now-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, will lobby on foreign correspondent security among other issues for the company, according to a disclosure filed Tuesday. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal, whose correspondent Evan Gershkovich remains detained in Russia after his arrest on March 29 by Russian authorities.

— Gershkovich’s jailing — over espionage charges both he and the U.S. have denied — hung over last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner festivities. In observance of World Press Freedom Day today, attorneys for the Journal’s publisher Dow Jones appealed to a United Nations free speech expert to press Moscow for his release.

— Resolution will also lobby on the development of federal AI regulations, according to the disclosure filing, as well as antitrust issues related to the book publishing industry, which are “significant policy concerns for News Corp and our businesses,” Todd Thorpe, News Corp.'s global head of government affairs, told PI in an email.

— HarperCollins had previously expressed interest in purchasing rival publisher Simon & Schuster in the event that the Justice Department successfully blocked Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster. (DOJ did succeed.) Earlier this year, News Corp. retained the GOP lobbying firm CGCN Group to lobby on intellectual property issues and competition policy.

FIRST IN PI — CGCN ADDS A PARTNER: Jill Hamaker has left Emergent BioSolutions after more than a decade to join CGCN Group’s lobbying team as a partner. Hamaker joined the biotech firm, which manufactures the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan, in 2010, and she most recently served as its head of federal government affairs.

— In an interview, Hamaker said her focus at CGCN will mirror the work she did for Emergent, where she specialized in public health threats and pandemic preparedness in particular. The move comes as Congress kicks off efforts to reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act with a pair of hearings set for the coming days.

— “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with my former company, Emergent, and focus on ensuring that public health preparedness makes it across the finish line this Congress,” she told PI. Hamaker’s hire also sets up a reunion with Tracey Schmitt, a senior partner on CGCN’s public affairs team who previously was a public affairs executive at Emergent.

— “Jill will be an invaluable member of any team she joins. While we are disappointed she is leaving, we wish her all the best in her new role,” Chris Frech, Emergent’s senior vice president for global government affairs, said in a statement.

— The company has promoted Katherine Getty to lead its federal lobbying team in Hamaker’s stead, and has also recently added Hannah Aronson as manager for federal government affairs and Lindsey Arnold as director of public affairs.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips and gossip: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

INVARIANT ADDS AN INFRASTRUCTURE, APPROPS VET: Invariant is boosting its transportation and infrastructure offering with the addition of Senate Democratic leadership veteran Joe Bushong. Bushong is joining the firm after serving for the past seven years as a senior policy adviser to Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), where he handled the Democratic whip’s infrastructure portfolio.

— Before that, Bushong spent about half a decade working for Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations panel that oversees spending on transportation and housing. “I’ve been able to shape every infrastructure and appropriations piece of legislation that we’ve enacted” over the past few years, Bushong told PI.

— “Being there in the room when we negotiated a lot of these provisions in these super complicated bills … I sort of know the insights of a lot of these issues” as well as the main players both on and off the Hill, he added. “We enacted these bills, but there’s just a ton to do on the implementation side.”

— Bushong said he expects to work from the outside to guide the government translate “legislation into reality” in addition to helping clients navigate the flood of new federal funding and new programs and shape the upcoming FAA reauthorization and appropriations bills.

CONGRESS ZEROING IN ON SHEIN: Executives for fast fashion behemoth Shein have received a flurry of missives from Congress this week, putting pressure on the company to reveal more about its business practices and supply chain ahead of a potential IPO by the booming e-commerce brand.

— The latest Hill demands came Tuesday from the heads of the House China Select Committee, who asked Shein CEO Chris Xu to turn over documents relating to the company’s process for verifying that no materials sourced by the company originated in China’s Xinjiang region and that its manufacturing supply chain is free of forced labor or other human rights violations.

— Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) also questioned Xu about Shein’s exploitation of a trade loophole that critics say allows Shein to flood U.S. and European markets with cheap goods while avoiding both billions of dollars in tariff costs and stepped-up scrutiny of its products’ potential ties to forced labor.

— The letter is one of four sent to the heads of retailers to ask about companies’ compliance with a U.S. law meant to crack down on the widespread use of forced labor by Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region. Adidas, Nike and the Chinese retailer Temu also received letters from the select committee.

— A day earlier, two dozen House lawmakers wrote to SEC Chair Gary Gensler to demand the agency require an independent audit of Shein’s supply chain as a condition of allowing the Chinese-founded company to be listed on a U.S. stock exchange, pointing to reporting that cotton used by the company had been traced back to the Xinjiang region. Shein, which is now based in Singapore, has denied those allegations.

— The pressure from Congress comes amid a lobbying campaign by the Shut Down Shein coalition, which launched earlier this year and aims to tie the brand to another politically toxic — but popular — Chinese-linked company, TikTok. The coalition, which isn’t disclosing its funders, launched its first digital ad buy last week, while Shein last fall hired a crew of high-powered lobbyists at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as well as former Rep. Benjamin Quayle to plead its case in Washington.

STATE LEGISLATORS FACE LOBBYING DELUGE FROM TECH GROUPS: With federal legislation addressing kids’ online safety floundering in Washington, trade groups funded by tech giants have flooded state capitals to water down proposals advancing there, even as the tech companies themselves remain publicly out of the fray, The Washington Post’s Cristiano Lima and Cat Zakrzewski report.

— “Tech groups including NetChoice, CCIA and the Chamber of Progress have fired off letters warning about the potentially catastrophic impact of the bills on user privacy and free speech online, deployed lobbyists to meet with key state officials and sent their leaders to testify in opposition to the efforts in Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada, among other states — part of a widespread campaign to neutralize the budding regulatory push.”

— “Supporters of the proposed legislation, which they say is necessary to prevent children from being exposed to addictive social media features and other harmful designs, say the tech groups’ lobbying has at times relied on misleading or deceptive tactics aimed at stoking confusion about what the proposals do.”

— “The uptick in activity is a harbinger of how states have become a new lobbying battleground for Silicon Valley, after lawmakers in Washington have passed no new comprehensive laws regulating the tech industry despite years of debate.”

— But while lawmakers in D.C. “have become more aware of tech giants’ lobbying strategies and more skeptical of groups that receive funding from Meta, Amazon and other companies, said Katie Paul, the director of the Tech Transparency Project, … state lawmakers are an ‘easy target’ because they do not have as much experience or depth of knowledge about the industry apparatus, she said.”

Jobs Report

— Karen Kuhlman has joined the American Association of Airport Executives as senior vice president of government affairs. She joins AAAE after 17 years at United Airlines, most recently serving as managing director of congressional affairs.

— Robert Grant has joined blockchain company Ripple as vice president of global policy. He was most recently at Cruise, where he led government affairs and social impact.

— The American Hotel & Lodging Association has added Kat Fonda as director of federal affairs and Shreya Kanal as manager of government affairs. Fonda was most recently director of PAC fundraising at Fundraising Inc. and is an Aflac alum and Kanal was most recently coordinator of legislative and political affairs for the Associated Builders and Contractors.

— Jeff Johnson has joined Actum as a managing director. He’s currently founder of JIJ Impact.

— Jaidan Idarraga is joining the DNC as a speechwriter. He previously worked as an associate at Precision Strategies.

— Caroline Hoffman has been promoted to be associate director of media relations at Walker Sands.

— Maggie Snipes is now executive director at Applecart, leading on strategic partnerships. She most recently was a strategic adviser for business development and marketing at GP3 Partners and is an alum of Semafor, Axios, and The Washington Post.

— Stephanie Epner is now global senior director of the Climate Imperative Foundation. She previously was a special adviser and acting senior director for climate and energy at the National Security Council and is a former longtime aide to John Kerry.

— Mari Manoogian is the new political director for The Next 50. She previously was a state representative in Michigan, served on state Sen. Mallory McMorrow‘s political team and was a senior adviser at New Blue Interactive.

— Swing Left is bringing on a handful of new staffers: LeJamiel “Lee” Goodall will be managing director and previously was senior adviser to the GSA Deputy Administrator Katy Kale. Dan Kalik will be head of politics and strategy and previously was senior political adviser at MoveOn. Jade Tacka will be head of development and previously was senior finance adviser for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Michelle Alwardt will be operations lead and previously was managing director at Scale for Change.

— Dentons Global Advisors-Albright Stonebridge Group is bringing on former Egyptian diplomats Waguih Hanafi, Karim Haggag and Mohamed Hanafi as senior advisers as it launches a new strategic partnership with Cairo-based LYNX Strategic Business Advisors.

— Darcy Hirsh is joining Interfaith Alliance as senior director of policy and advocacy. She previously was associate vice president for public affairs and government relations at The Jewish Federations of North America.

— Valiant Richey has joined TikTok as global head of outreach and partnerships for trust and safety. He previously was special representative and coordinator for combating trafficking in human beings at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

— Kara Leibin Azocar is the new vice president of policy at Iridium Communications. She previously was senior counsel of federal affairs at GCI Communication Corp.

New Joint Fundraisers

Senate IMPACT 2024 (Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio))

New PACs

COMMITTED TO AMERICA PAC (Super PAC)

Great New Hampshire (Super PAC)

OUR NM FUTURE PAC, INC. (Super PAC)

Red Hat PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Article One Group, LLC: Ouster, Inc.

Article One Group, LLC: Standard Industries Ltd.

Ascend Consulting: Street Grace

Crowell & Moring LLP: American Chamber Of Commerce In China

Currentstrategic LLC: Children And Screens: Institute Of Digital Media & Child Development

Farm Action Fund: Farm Action Fund

Franklin Resources, Inc. (Franklin Templeton) And Affiliates: Franklin Resources, Inc. (Franklin Templeton) And Affiliates

Kore Power, Inc.: Kore Power, Inc.

Mr. Jason Osborne: Big Cat Rescue

Peter Damon Group LLC: Nccmp

Port Side Strategies, LLC: Center For Health And Democracy

Resolution Public Affairs, LLC: News Corporation

The Cormac Group, LLC: Prizepicks

The Picard Group, LLC: The Carpenter Health Network

Vnf Solutions, LLC: Carbonfree

New Lobbying Terminations

Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: Newity LLC

Ikon Public Affairs: American Future Systems

Winn Strategies, LLC: Twin Logic On Behalf Of Pandora Media Inc

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