With help from Daniel Lippman
CASEY’S NEW GIG: Former Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is rejoining Dilworth Paxson — where he first worked as a paralegal — as of counsel in the corporate and business practice group. Casey left office earlier this year after 18 years following his narrow loss to Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.) in the closest Senate race of the 2024 cycle.
— Casey doesn’t plan on registering to lobby, even when his two-year ban on lobbying Congress lapses in 2027, but he wouldn’t rule out registering at the state level if the work required it. He said in an interview he plans on providing “advice and counsel and support to existing clients” on matters involving state or federal government policy as well as international issues, drawing from his experience in state and federal government.
— Casey sat on some of the most prominent committees in the Senate, including Banking, Finance, HELP and Foreign Relations and Intel. He was also chair of the Aging Committee.
— About a dozen former members of the 118th Congress have gone on to influence-adjacent gigs in the private sector since leaving office earlier this year. Among Casey’s former Senate colleagues, Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow is now working at Liberty Partners Group, California Democrat Laphonza Butler is now at the consulting firm Actum and Arizona Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema is now at the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells.
KKR LOBBIES UP: Private equity giant KKR went on a K Street hiring spree this spring, bringing on three new outside lobbying firms with ties to President Donald Trump. The firm retained Conway Capitol Consulting’s Molly Conway at the beginning of July to work on “expanding and protecting employment-based retirement savings options,” according to a disclosure filed last week.
— Conway held a number of roles at the Labor Department during Trump’s first term, including chief of staff, and she more recently served as a sherpa during the confirmation of current Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
— KKR retained Michael Best Strategies — which is led by former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus — at the beginning of May to work on financial services and tax policy, the reconciliation bill and energy and infrastructure development, according to a June lobbying disclosure.
— A month earlier, KKR hired a team of lobbyists at Squire Patton Boggs that includes former Trump aides Tommy Andrews and Everett Eissenstat to lobby on tax reform and the regulatory treatment of private equity, tariffs and trade, per an April disclosure.
— This year’s hires were KKR’s first outside lobbying additions since 2007, according to a PI analysis of disclosure filings. That’s when the firm retained Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which has continued to lobby for KKR over the last 18 years. Just before last year’s election, KKR brought on Brad Bailey, a former lobbyist for the American Investment Council who worked in the first Trump administration and for two GOP House speakers, as a managing director on its public policy team.
— Trump handed private equity a big win last week, signing an executive order aimed at allowing retirement plans like 401(k)s to invest in so-called alternative assets like cryptocurrencies, real estate and private equity. Those investments provide less transparency and stability compared to ones in traditional stocks and bonds — but potentially offer much steeper returns.
— Private equity also eked out several victories in the GOP megabill signed into law in July. The law includes language that would increase the tax deductibility of companies’ debt payments — a highly sought-after change worth billions to private equity firms, Bloomberg reported. At the same time, the industry managed to keep GOP tax writers from acquiescing to Trump’s demand to turn private equity’s prized treatment of carried interest into a pay-for.
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CORNYN TAX AIDE JOINS HOLLAND & KNIGHT: Andrew Siracuse has left the Hill after 26 years to join Holland & Knight as a partner in its public policy and regulation group. Siracuse has spent nearly two decades working for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), most recently as senior tax counsel for Cornyn, who sits on the tax writing Finance Committee and previously served as GOP whip.
— His arrival will undoubtedly be a boost to Holland & Knight’s clients as K Street navigates the next phase of the GOP megabill, which will focus on implementation and the rulemaking process at the executive branch level.
— Siracuse’s “deep understanding of tax policy, along with his vast network of legislative and executive contacts” will be an “invaluable” resource “to current and future clients during the rulemaking process and beyond,” Rich Gold, the leader of Holland & Knight’s lobbying practice, said in a statement.
— In addition to Siracuse’s work on tax issues for Cornyn, he also served as Republican staff director for multiple Senate Finance subcommittees, including its international trade, customs and global competitiveness and its energy, natural resources and infrastructure panels.
WELCOME TO THE TEAM(STERS): After opening its wallet for Republicans for the first time in decades last year, “Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien is signaling a more permanent realignment by donating to battleground Republicans in the upcoming midterms,” POLITICO’s Adam Wren writes.
— “For the second year in a row, the labor union’s political arm donated to the Republicans’ House campaign arm after nearly two decades of mostly backing Democrats. The labor union’s D.R.I.V.E political action committee — Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education — gave the National Republican Congressional Committee $5,000 in the second quarter.”
— “In addition to giving to the NRCC, Teamsters doled out a combined $62,000 in contributions to nearly two-dozen GOP congressional candidates, including in significant battleground districts,” as well as a handful of GOP senators, even though the union has still given more to Democrats. Its political arm also cut a $50,000 check to the Republican Attorneys General Association in June.
GETTING HIGH: The Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey reports that Trump “is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug … after pot companies have poured millions of dollars into Trump’s political groups.”
— Trump reportedly expressed interest in the idea at a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser this month at his Bedminster Club in New Jersey at the urging of Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers. “The fundraiser conversation was part of a campaign by cannabis companies to persuade Trump to pick up where the Biden team left off and reclassify the drug.”
— “The companies have contributed millions to the president’s political groups and hired some of the Washington’s top lobbyists and advisers to Trump. The companies went to Trump directly after failing to gain traction across other agencies in the government.”
— Asked about it today, Trump said he was “looking at” reclassification of the drug — which he acknowledged was divisive among his base — and teased a decision on the matter in the coming weeks, per POLITICO’s Nicole Markus.
BY THE NUMBERS: Trump and his family have banked $3.4 billion in profits through their various business ventures during Trump’s two presidencies, The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick argues in a new analysis that attempted to quantify their profiteering for the first time.
— Kirkpatrick’s tally found the first family’s fortune lies overwhelmingly in crypto ventures, which represent around $2.4 billion in profits, while finance ventures like Jared Kushner’s private equity firm and Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm added another $340 million — compared $125 million from properties like Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club.
ON DEFENSE: Trump defended the deal he struck with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang “to waive national security concerns blocking the sale of certain semiconductor chips to China in exchange for the company giving the U.S. government 15 percent of the revenue,” POLITICO’s Doug Palmer and Ari Hawkins report.
— “I said, ‘I want 20 percent if I’m going to approve this for you,'” Trump said at a news conference today, when asked about reports that Nvidia and chipmaker AMD agreed to pay the government a portion of their revenue from the chips in order for a license to do so. “For the country, for our country. I don’t want it myself. …. And he said, ‘Would you make it 15?’ So we negotiate a little deal.”
— “Trump appeared to brush off concerns that he was weakening national security by approving the sale. He said the H20 chip manufactured by Nvidia is ‘obsolete,’ even though there is still a market for it in China and other places. To back up his point, Trump said he would not make a deal to allow Nvidia to export a more advanced chip known as Blackwell to China unless it was somehow altered ‘in a negative way.'”
— The America First Policy Institute is launching a Minnesota state chapter led by Ryan Wilson as chair and Zach Freimark as executive director. Wilson is an attorney and former state auditor candidate and Freimak is a senior political strategist at Red Rock Strategies and a political adviser to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
— Nisha Desai is joining Van Ness Creative Strategies as senior director of digital fundraising in its new D.C. office. She previously was digital fundraising director at the DCCC.
— Dean Ball is joining the Foundation for American Innovation as a senior fellow. He previously was senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence and emerging technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
— Jake Jordan is now research director for the AFL-CIO. He previously was deputy research director for the Biden White House and is a Gretchen Whitmer alum.
— Max Eden and James Paul are joining the America First Policy Institute. Eden will be director of federal education policy and previously was a director at the Domestic Policy Council and an alum of Manhattan Institute and AEI. Paul will be director of state education policy and previously was executive director of the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board.
— Janis Bowdler and Felicia Escobar Carrillo are joining Equis Research as senior fellows. Bowdler will be a senior fellow on the economy and previously was the first counselor for racial equity at the Treasury Department. Escobar Carrillo will be a senior fellow on immigration and previously served as chief of staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and is a White House Domestic Policy Council alum.
— Remi Raphael has joined the Electric Power Research Institute as its new vice president of AI transformation and chief AI officer, per Morning Energy. He was most recently the head of digital technology at Origis Energy.
— Michael Pape has been appointed chief of staff for USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, Morning Ag reports. He was most recently an associate at Capitol South and is a former district director for former Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), political director for Kentucky’s Republican Party and former congressional candidate.
— Anna Pilato will be chief of staff for USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement Jason Allen will be senior adviser in the office, per MA. Pilato was previously director of federal public policy for the Christian Medical and Dental Associations and is an HHS alum, and Allen is president of Team Allen LLC and a former consultant for AFPI and is a USDA alum.
FAITH, HONOR, & COURAGE (Rep. Mike Haridopolos, Space Coast Leadership PAC, God, Family, & Country PAC
Rooted With The People (Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Donavan McKinney for Congress)
AMERICAN DAWOODI BOHRAS PAC (PAC)
Change for Monroe (Super PAC)
Citizens for Carroll Cares Campaign (PAC)
Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) Federal PAC Inc (PAC)
Kentucky Forward PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Make America Go Away (Super PAC)
New Blue Charter (PAC)
ONYX (Hybrid PAC)
Raise the Floor (Super PAC)
Red Peaks PAC (Super PAC)
STANDING TOGETHER FOR UTAH (Super PAC)
Warriors for Zero-Disparity Equality (Super PAC)
Acg Advocacy: Energysolutions
Capitol Hill Policy Group LLC: California Coastal Crab Association
Collective Strategies & Communications LLC (Formerly Collective Communications L: Advanced Situational Awareness, LLC
Collective Strategies & Communications LLC (Formerly Collective Communications L: Earth Force Technologies, Inc.
Collective Strategies & Communications LLC (Formerly Collective Communications L: Overwatch Aero
Collective Strategies & Communications LLC (Formerly Collective Communications L: The Lumber Manufactory, Inc.
Conway Capitol Consulting LLC: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (“Kkr”)
Cordone Consulting LLC: Cascade Climate
Hogan Lovells US LLP: Certum Group
Mo Strategies, Inc.: Applied Research Institute, Inc.
Mo Strategies, Inc.: Sabi, Inc.
Mullen Consulting LLC: Stevens Trucking
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP: Msa Security, An Allied Universal Company
Ripple: Ripple
Ambessa Solutions LLC: Guinean American League Of Friends For Freedom Incorporated (Inc)
Asha Strategies LLC: Nigerian Physician Advocacy Group
Capitol Asset Strategies: Ava Labs, Inc.
Capitol Asset Strategies: Avalanche Bvi, Inc.
Capitol Asset Strategies: Ledger
Capitol Asset Strategies: Metrika, Inc.
Capitol Asset Strategies: Wisdomtree Digital Management, Inc.
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Wellspring Capital Group
Jst Strategies LLC (Jochum Shore & Trossevin Pc): Glaxosmithkline
Mr. Thomas Marquez: Turbovets
Revere Federal Strategies: Vector Defense
