{"id":400761,"date":"2021-04-08T16:58:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T20:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=400761"},"modified":"2021-04-08T16:58:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T20:58:18","slug":"lobbyist-for-brutal-african-dictator-under-consideration-for-key-diplomatic-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lobbyist-for-brutal-african-dictator-under-consideration-for-key-diplomatic-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobbyist for Brutal African Dictator Under Consideration for Key Diplomatic Post"},"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\">22<\/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%2Flobbyist-for-brutal-african-dictator-under-consideration-for-key-diplomatic-post%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=400761&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 readability=\"30.521008403361\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Amos Hochstein lobbied for African dictator accused of cannibalism<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-978.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-977.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/EmJcIUAWkAAghX_-2-1-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/EmJcIUAWkAAghX_-2-1-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/EmJcIUAWkAAghX_-2-1-695x491.jpg 695w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs\">\n\t\t\t\tJoe Biden and Amos Hochstein in 2015 \/ Twitter\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/jack-beyrer\/\" title=\"Posts by Jack Beyrer\" rel=\"author\" class=\"text-red-700\">Jack Beyrer<\/a> \u2022 April 8, 2021 4:50 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"94.587802635611\">\n<p>President Joe Biden is considering tapping a lobbyist who represented a brutal African dictator to serve in a crucial diplomatic position.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday,&nbsp;<em>Politico<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/04\/07\/biden-envoy-nord-stream-2-479706\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<wbr \/>the Biden administration is in talks with Amos Hochstein to lead its efforts to cut off the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project commissioned by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The project, which is nearing completion, would connect vital oil and gas resources via a pipeline from Russia to Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Before joining the Obama administration in 2011, Hochstein worked for five years at Cassidy and Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm.&nbsp;Hochstein&#8217;s portfolio included services for Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea and Africa&#8217;s longest serving dictator. Obiang, a former prison administrator, wrestled power from his uncle in 1979 and ordered the execution of his brother in the process. Under Obiang&#8217;s leadership, Equatorial Guinea touts a record as one of the world&#8217;s worst human rights abusers.<\/p>\n<p>Equatorial&nbsp;Guinea regularly sees the detention of journalists and violent torture from police forces, <a href=\"https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/country\/equatorial-guinea\/freedom-world\/2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">placing<\/a>&nbsp;the country among the least free places in the world, according to the human rights nonprofit Freedom House. Obiang&#8217;s agents have been accused of urinating on and maiming prisoners. Obiang himself has been alleged to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/world-news\/meet-teodoro-obiang-nguema-equatorial-8808273\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cannibalize<\/a>&nbsp;his political enemies.<\/p>\n<p>As a vice president at Cassidy, Hochstein led the lobbying firm&#8217;s work with the Obiang government for a time. The lobbying firm reportedly helped Equatorial Guinea secure contracts with the United States government for building infrastructure, by which Obiang intended to transform his image in Washington foreign policy circles.&nbsp;Hochstein&nbsp;defended his work with the regime,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/when-lobbyists-work-authoritarian-nations-74781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">saying<\/a>&nbsp;Obiang&#8217;s government &#8220;has taken some serious steps that are moving the country in the right direction&#8221; and that his work helped &#8220;move the ball forward on human rights&#8221; in the country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s convinced me of his deep care for his people,&#8221; Hochstein <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2006\/04\/21\/AR2006042101754.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the <em>Washington Post<\/em> in 2006. &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen the changes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hochstein declined comment. Cassidy Associates did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2006, the situation in Equatorial Guinea has arguably gotten worse. In August 2017, Equatorial Guinean authorities arrested two journalists for critical coverage of the regime. A coup attempt also in 2017 led to the extensive torture and jailing of political dissidents.<\/p>\n<p>Hochstein later claimed to step away from the Equatorial Guinea account, but he continued to work as a lobbyist before joining then-senator Chris Dodd&#8217;s (D., Conn.) presidential campaign in 2007.&nbsp;In January, the Biden administration set up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/biden-ethics-administration\/2021\/01\/18\/56a9a97a-59bd-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stringent<\/a> rules for hiring personnel. Executive orders on ethics issued by the White House restrict outgoing administration officials&#8217; ability to lobby and implement a waiver process for some lobbyists to work in specific government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Hochstein&#8217;s potential post comes with high political stakes. Congressional Republicans have been calling for a tougher stance on Russia&#8217;s pipeline project, as some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/biden-nord-stream-2-sanctions-republican-criticism\/31112654.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">say<\/a> the Biden administration has been all talk and no action on cutting Moscow off from such a potentially valuable resource.<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amos Hochstein lobbied for African dictator accused of cannibalism  Joe Biden and Amos Hochstein in 2015 \/ Twitter  Jack Beyrer \u2022 April 8, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311881,"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\/04\/fb_image-978.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Lobbyist for Brutal African Dictator Under Consideration for Key Diplomatic Post","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-978.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Lobbyist for Brutal African Dictator Under Consideration for Key Diplomatic Post","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400761","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=400761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}