EVERYTOWN TEES UP SIX-FIGURE AD BLITZ: "As bipartisan negotiations heat up on Capitol Hill following mass shootings in Texas and New York, the nation's leading gun violence prevention group on Friday launched an ad campaign across a dozen states urging senators to reach an agreement on a range of firearms measures," POLITICO's Chris Cadelago reports. — "Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund's weeklong $400,000 advertising campaign focuses on lawmakers in the battleground states of North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, as well as those in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and Utah." — "The 'don't look away' ad campaign, which will start appearing over the weekend across local newspapers, billboards and digital platforms, come amid bipartisan Senate negotiations over relatively modest gun safety changes. While they do not name specific lawmakers, the ads are running in states where advocates are trying to pressure participating Republican officials to take action — from Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The blitz "follows escalating calls from President Joe Biden to Congress against squandering another opportunity to take action." FARA FRIDAY: "A former high-ranking U.S. ambassador is demanding federal prosecutors explain why he's facing criminal charges for illegal foreign lobbying on behalf of Qatar while a retired four-star general who worked with him on the effort is not," per The Associated Press' Alan Suderman and Jim Mustian. — "The dispute involving two Washington power players has highlighted the often-ambiguous boundaries of foreign lobbying laws as well as what prosecutors say were high-level, behind-the-scenes influence dealings with the wealthy Persian Gulf country." — "Richard G. Olson, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, is scheduled to attend a plea hearing Friday on federal charges that include improperly helping Qatar influence U.S. policy in 2017 — when a diplomatic crisis erupted between the gas-rich monarchy and its neighbors over the country's alleged ties to terror groups and other issues." — "Olson has argued he's entitled to learn why prosecutors aren't also bringing charges against someone he says he worked side by side with on Qatar: retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before being tapped in late 2017 to lead the influential Brookings Institution think tank." — "Allen has denied ever working as a Qatari agent and said his efforts on Qatar in 2017 were motivated to prevent a war from breaking out in the Gulf that would put U.S. troops at risk. A statement from his spokesman to The Associated Press on Thursday said Allen has 'voluntarily cooperated with the government's investigation.'" — "Olson's lawyers said in court papers that since 2020 he has been seeking to get a lighter sentencing recommendation by extensively cooperating with prosecutors 'with the express goal' of bringing charges against Allen. … But federal prosecutor Evan Turgeon said at a hearing last week that the government has not 'made a prosecutorial decision as to other persons' and disputed how Olson's attorney characterized past discussions." HOW WE GOT HERE: "Facebook had moved beyond needing Sheryl Sandberg's star power well before she announced her departure this week," our Emily Birnbaum writes. "The social media titan has transformed in recent years into a slick political operation focused on crisis management — a far cry from the nominally apolitical, grow-at-any-cost corporation that Sandberg once led." — "The last time Sandberg publicly made the rounds on Capitol Hill was 2019 — dozens of controversies ago for the embattled company now known as Meta. Over the past two years, the company's public face in government capitals has instead been Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the U.K., who is now Meta's president of global affairs. He has served as a de facto messenger-in-chief, defending the company's political reputation in interviews, blog posts and conversations with policymakers." — "While Clegg isn't in control of Meta's operational side like Sandberg was, that may be part of his appeal — creating some distance between his persona and the company he represents. Clegg himself has leaned into his position as an 'outsider' to push the message that he is trustworthy," meanwhile "Sandberg has been sidelined from the company's lobbying and public relations work since soon after the 2016 presidential election when Congress zeroed in on Facebook's role in providing a platform to Russian misinformation." — "'In the tech golden era, early on, members of Congress were falling over themselves to come up to campus or to see Sheryl when she came,' said Katie Harbath, who worked at Facebook's D.C. office for more than a decade as a Republican lobbyist before leaving last year. 'Things really started to turn' for Facebook in 2016, she added." — Founder Mark Zuckerberg , meanwhile, "has remained an often problematic spokesperson for the company," and "since joining Facebook, Clegg has taken some of that heat off Zuckerberg. Clegg has fired off blog posts, statements and appeared in media appearances painting Facebook as a company that is doing its best to tackle complex issues and protect its users." CRYPTO READIES FOR ITS MOMENT: "The most highly anticipated legislation in the history of cryptocurrency is about to make its debut, after months of hype drummed up by Sens. Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand," POLITICO's Sam Sutton reports. — "The campaign has fueled a lobbying bonanza on the part of digital asset startups, venture capitalists and consumer watchdogs. They want to put their stamp on a sweeping bill that Hill aides and industry insiders believe will set the tone for how Congress writes the rules for crypto in the coming years, even if it likely stands no chance of becoming law in the form that Lummis and Gillibrand plan to release Tuesday." — "'This is the starting point for discussions about what the law should look like,' said Miles Jennings, crypto general counsel and head of decentralization at Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture firm that's a major investor and lobbying force in the world of digital assets. 'I think that is one of the reasons we're excited about it.'" — "The contents of the bill will likely shed light on who holds sway in the ever-expanding universe of crypto lobbying. It's already been the source of clashes between the industry's growing set of trade associations backed by competing digital asset startups. Aides from both lawmakers' offices say they've been swamped by incoming suggestions on how to approach everything from crypto exchange regulations to tax policy." — "It's one of several crypto bills that lawmakers have begun to draft as companies jockey for influence," meanwhile "crypto skeptics warn that the frenzy around the bill is part of an intensifying push by crypto firms to convince lawmakers to shield them from regulations that apply to traditional finance."
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