{"id":192950,"date":"2021-03-06T15:14:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T20:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=192950"},"modified":"2021-03-06T15:14:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T20:14:50","slug":"biden-hires-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-hires-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Hires Qatari Agent as Senior Adviser"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-hires-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=192950&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301444777.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">President Joe Biden hired a new senior adviser on Friday who formerly lobbied on behalf of Qatar, the oil-rich Arab nation that has close ties to Iran and is a central hub for terrorism financing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The White House<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/03\/05\/white-house-announces-additional-policy-staff\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">announced<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">on Friday evening that Erin Pelton is set to join the administration as a special assistant to Biden and a senior adviser on domestic policy issues. Pelton, a onetime foreign service officer and flak during the Obama administration, later advocated on behalf of foreign governments, including Qatar, according to<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/efile.fara.gov\/docs\/6170-Short-Form-20180116-146.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">public<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">filings with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which mandates that Americans who are lobbying for foreign governments disclose their work.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Biden Administration<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/biden-hires-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser\/\"><strong>Biden Hires Qatari Agent as Senior Adviser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/iranian-dissidents-slam-nominee-top-defense-post\/\"><strong>Iranian Dissidents Slam Nominee for Top Defense Post<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/biden-labor-board-blocks-construction-workers-from-union-exodus\/\"><strong>Biden Labor Board Blocks Construction Workers From Union Exodus<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pelton\u2019s work for Qatar is likely to raise questions about the revolving door between the Biden White House and lobbying firms that represent a host of foreign governments. Pelton is just the latest Biden administration official to have questionable ties to adversarial regimes. Biden\u2019s Asia policy czar, Kurt Campbell, for instance, helped\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/bidens-asia-policy-czar-helped-found-group-heavily-influenced-by-the-ccp\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">found<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a group that critics say is &#8220;heavily influenced by the CCP.&#8221; The administration\u2019s potential pick to lead NASA, former senator Bill Nelson,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/potential-biden-nasa-pick-invested-in-chinese-telecom-giant-blacklisted-by-pentagon\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">invested<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in a Chinese telecom company that is blacklisted by the Pentagon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pelton lobbied on behalf of the Qatari embassy in 2018, when she was working for Mercury Public Affairs, a top lobbying shop in Washington, D.C., according to the Justice Department filings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Qatar has spent billions of dollars lobbying American politicians and influencers. The country funds prominent think tanks, such as the Brookings Institution, and was alleged last year to have funded hack attacks on some 1,500 individuals, including political operatives based in Washington, D.C. A<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/lawsuit-alleges-qatar-secretly-financed-terror-attacks-that-killed-americans\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020 lawsuit<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">alleged that Qatar financed terror attacks that killed Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite its coordination with the United States on anti-terrorism operations, Qatar continues to maintain relations with Iran and is<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/issues\/trump-admin-quiet-on-qatars-alleged-role-in-financing-hezbollah\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">suspected of funding<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group operating in Lebanon. Qatar\u2019s terror financing has gone largely unaddressed due to Doha\u2019s hosting of the Al Udeid military base, which houses U.S. Central Command\u2019s regional headquarters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pelton formerly served as a U.S. foreign service officer until 2014, when she became the spokeswoman for the United States Mission to the United Nations under Susan Rice. She also served as a press secretary for the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration and also as a deputy spokeswoman for the State Department\u2019s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, which deals with policy matters in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pelton<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erin_pelton\/status\/1262875136065183745\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">helped defend<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rice in 2020 from accusations that she and the Obama administration wrongly launched an investigation into Trump-era national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was exonerated last year from charges he colluded with Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden hired a new senior adviser on Friday who formerly lobbied on behalf of Qatar, the oil-rich Arab nation that has close ties to Iran and is a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274915,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301444777.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Hires Qatari Agent as Senior Adviser","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301444777.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Biden Hires Qatari Agent as Senior Adviser","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}