The measure would institute a lifetime ban on members of Congress working as lobbyists after leaving office. But Rosen’s campaign and leadership PAC, the Jacky Rosen Victory Fund, has received nearly $35,000 from 13 former lawmakers, 12 of whom were Democrats, who became lobbyists after leaving office. Rosen’s campaign has received over $720,000 from lobbyists of all stripes since 2015, according to Open Secrets.
Jacky Rosen Wants To Block Lobbyists From Working in Congress. She Has a Penchant for Hiring Them.
Senator Jacky Rosen says she wants to stop congressional staffers from becoming lobbyists, and vice versa. But her office is teeming with former lobbyists, and many of her former staffers have gone on to become lobbyists.
As part of her "efforts to clean up Washington," the Nevada Democrat in March signed on to the Close the Revolving Door Act, which would ban former members of Congress from lobbying and boost restrictions on congressional staffers from becoming lobbyists and vice versa. Rosen says the bill would "reduce the influence of powerful special interests and their lobbyists in Congress by increasing transparency and accountability."
But Rosen has helped keep the revolving door spinning since taking office in 2015. Rosen has hired several former lobbyists to serve as senior policy advisers since taking office in 2015, and she’s seen other staffers leave to start lucrative careers as lobbyists. Rosen has also accepted over $720,000 in campaign contributions from registered lobbyists, including nearly $35,000 from former lawmakers who became lobbyists upon leaving office.
Rosen’s push to regulate lobbying could open her up to charges of hypocrisy as she seeks a second term in the Senate in November. The Cook Political Report on Wednesday shifted Rosen’s seat from its "Lean Democrat" column to a toss-up after recent polls have indicated she’s in for a tight race against her expected Republican opponent, Army veteran Sam Brown.
Had the Close the Revolving Door Act been in place 2020, Rosen may have been barred from hiring her current senior policy adviser, Daniel Bleiberg, who joined her office that year after serving as a lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2017. The law would institute a six-year ban on lobbyists from working for members of Congress they lobbied. Bleiberg lobbied in the House in 2017 when Rosen served her lone term in the lower chamber, but it’s not clear if he had any substantial contact with the Nevada Democrat at that time.
Rosen has a penchant for hiring former lobbyists to serve as senior policy aides. Her former senior policy adviser, Alex De Bianchi, served as a lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America from 2008 to 2012 before joining Rosen’s office in 2019. De Bianchi left Rosen’s office in May 2023 to serve as director of legislative affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The Close the Revolving Door Act would have also limited the career prospects of former Rosen staffers like Leilani Gonzalez, who resigned as a legislative correspondent in 2021 to serve as policy director for the Zero Emission Transportation Association.
Gonzalez registered as a lobbyist for the group in 2023, which pushes lawmakers to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2030. The Close the Revolving Door Act would have barred Gonzalez from lobbying in Congress until 2027.
Rosen’s former legislative assistant, Kayla Primes, registered as a lobbyist for Visa shortly after leaving Rosen’s office in August 2023. Had the Close the Revolving Door Act been in place, Primes wouldn’t be able to work as a lobbyist until 2029.
Rosen’s lobbying bill could also hurt her campaign finances.
The measure would institute a lifetime ban on members of Congress working as lobbyists after leaving office. But Rosen’s campaign and leadership PAC, the Jacky Rosen Victory Fund, has received nearly $35,000 from 13 former lawmakers, 12 of whom were Democrats, who became lobbyists after leaving office. Rosen’s campaign has received over $720,000 from lobbyists of all stripes since 2015, according to Open Secrets.
Rosen’s office did not return a request for comment.
Published under: AIPAC , Campaign Finance , Jacky Rosen , Lobbying , Lobbyists , Nevada , Senate
Now He’s Sorry: Sam Bankman-Fried ‘Haunted’ by ‘Bad Decisions’ that Led to Fraud, Billions in Stolen Funds
Disgraced former FTX CEO and Democrat mega donor Sam Bankman-Fried said on Tuesday he is “haunted” by his management decisions, which led to the collapse of the digital currency exchange and billions of dollars of customers and investors’ funds lost.
“It’s most of what I think about each day,” Bankman-Fried said in his first post-sentencing interview. He admitted that the collapse of FTX was the result of several “bad decisions” he made in 2022.
“I’ve heard and seen the despair, frustration and sense of betrayal from thousands of customers; they deserve to be paid in full, at current price. That could and should have happened in November 2022, and it could and should happen today. It’s excruciating to see them waiting, day after day,” he continued.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (second on left) is led away in handcuffs by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas, on December 13, 2022. (MARIO DUNCANSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years jail after he was convicted of five counts of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud. Kaplan also found that Bankman-Fried committed perjury during his trial testimony when he testified that he had no knowledge that Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company and hedge fund, had spent FTX customer deposits before the fall of 2022. Kaplan also committed witness tampering when he communicated with former FTX general counsel.
Bankman-Fried’s legal team has long claimed that customers have lost “zero” dollars despite an estimated $11 billion in customer funds and investor losses due to Bankman-Fried’s fraud.
Despite his fraud, Bankman-Fried claims he never wanted to hurt anyone.
“I’m haunted, every day, by what was lost. I never intended to hurt anyone or take anyone’s money. But I was the CEO of FTX, I was responsible for what happened to the company, and when you’re responsible it doesn’t matter why it goes bad,” Bankman-Fried said.
“I’d give anything to be able to help repair even part of the damage. I’m doing what I can from prison, but it’s deeply frustrating not to be able to do more,” the former FTX CEO added.
Current FTX CEO John Ray explained in a letter to Kaplan that Bankman-Fried’s victims may not be able to achieve full restitution due to Bankman-Fried’s fraud.
Breitbart News’s Lucas Nolan reported:
The letter also refutes Bankman-Fried’s claim that FTX is “solvent and safe,” with Ray pointing out that vast sums of money were stolen by the disgraced founder and converted into various assets, including Bahamas real estate, cryptocurrencies, and speculative ventures. Ray highlights that while some assets have been recovered through the efforts of dedicated professionals, many have not, such as bribes to Chinese officials and investments for which Bankman-Fried grossly overpaid. The CEO states that the harm was “vast” and that Bankman-Fried’s remorse is “nonexistent.”
According to Ray, Bankman-Fried falsely claimed that FTX customers should “get back all their money” and that he could help recover more value than the team behind the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions. However, Ray argues that these petitions were necessary to stop the damage caused by Bankman-Fried’s crimes and that the recovery rates would have been substantially lower without them. The CEO also notes that some victims are “extremely unhappy” about stolen bitcoins, as prices have recently reached all-time highs, and they believe they should receive something closer to today’s value.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried’s victims will never be returned to the same economic position they would have been in today absent his colossal fraud,” Ray wrote.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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