January 5, 2024
Top Advisors To Ben Carson Admit To Lobbying For Qatar
Former top advisers Donald Trump and presidential hopeful Ben Carson have admitted to unlawfully lobbying on behalf of Qatar.
Former top advisers to Donald Trump and presidential hopeful Ben Carson have admitted to unlawfully lobbying on behalf of Qatar, ABC News reports.
The Justice Department announced on Dec. 4 that Barry Bennett and Douglas Watts admitted to lying about organizing Washington, D.C.-based advocacy groups that advocated for Qatar’s interests, and never properly registered as agents for the country.
Bennett and Watts served as advisers on Carson’s failed 2016 presidential campaign before Bennett went to work for Trump’s campaign as an unpaid adviser. Shortly after the 2016 election, Bennett, according to court papers, started a consulting firm under the name “Avenue Strategies” and worked with Watts to operate a separate company to promote the interests of Bennett’s foreign clients.
Together, they created “Yemen Crisis Watch.” The organization promoted a public relations campaign criticizing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their roles in the Yemen conflict, however, it was all on behalf of Bennett’s Qatari clients. Their admission of guilt is a part of a prosecution agreement that will soon dismiss charges against them after a year of compliance, along with Bennett agreeing to pay a fine of $100,000 and Watts paying $25,000.
Carson has been pretty quiet since leaving his post as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But rumors have been flying that Trump may pick the neurosurgeon as his running mate in November 2024. According to Newsweek, the social media account, The Calvin Coolidge Project, claimed on Nov. 29, 2023, that Carson was the frontrunner for the position.
Trump hasn’t made any mention as to who his running mate will be, but there have been other names of people of color or women, including former presidential candidate Tim Scott and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik. When asked whether or not he’d pick a woman as his vice president, Trump responded, “I like the concept, but we’re going to pick the best person.”
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