Barry Bennett and Doug Watts cut deferred prosecution deals over claims of undisclosed lobbying for Qatar.
Bob Menendez isn’t the only Washington insider in hot water for his dealings with Qatar.
Two longtime Republican political consultants who backed Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign admitted in court filings Tuesday to deceiving the Justice Department about their lobbying activities on behalf of the small but wealthy Arab nation.
Barry Bennett and Doug Watts acknowledged they accepted funds from the Qatari government in exchange for promoting efforts to influence U.S. policy in the Middle East and engaged in a scheme to mislead investigators about those dealings.
The charges against the two consultants were publicly disclosed in court documents in Washington just minutes before federal prosecutors in New York unveiled a new indictment against Menendez (D-N.J.) that charged him with aiding the Qatari government in exchange for bribes.
There was no clear connection between the Menendez indictment and the Bennett and Watts cases, but the simultaneous unveiling of the charges hints at the extent to which the oil-rich country may have harnessed political allies in both parties to advocate for its interests in Washington.
Prosecutors indicated that Bennett and Watts have entered into “deferred prosecution” agreements that will allow the charges to be dismissed after a year if the men comply with the terms of the deals. The two men face charges for scheming to conceal work for a foreign government and making false statements about their work.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/02/trump-gop-qatar-00133567