{"id":572919,"date":"2021-06-24T13:52:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=572919"},"modified":"2021-06-24T13:52:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:52:42","slug":"democrat-challenging-elise-stefanik-previously-lobbied-for-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-challenging-elise-stefanik-previously-lobbied-for-qatar\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Challenging Elise Stefanik Previously Lobbied For Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/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%2Fdemocrat-challenging-elise-stefanik-previously-lobbied-for-qatar%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=572919&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\/06\/GettyImages-1232884279.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Matthew Putorti, an attorney in New York City running against newly appointed House Republican Conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), previously registered as a foreign agent to lobby on behalf of the \u201cEmbassy of Qatar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Caller reported last week that Putorti had to have campaign donations returned by two Democrats in 2019 when they discovered he had lobbied on behalf of Qatar, a hostile nation. As the Caller reported, Putorti\u2019s registration from February 23, 2019, said he provided \u201cassistance with legal, communications and public affairs matters\u201d to the \u201cEmbassy of Qatar\u201d on a \u201cpart-time basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Democrat\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesunion.com\/news\/article\/Whitehall-lawyer-Democrat-announces-bid-to-16244820.php\">running for Congress<\/a>\u00a0works as an insurance and arbitration lawyer for the New York City\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillsburylaw.com\/en\/lawyers\/matthew-putorti.html\">firm<\/a>\u00a0Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP,\u201d the Caller reported. \u201cIn 2019, he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/search?q=matthew+putorti&#038;type=donors\">donated<\/a>\u00a0$750 to Pete Buttigieg and $250 to Beto O\u2019Rourke. The Buttigieg and O\u2019Rourke donations drew scrutiny after it surfaced that Putorti registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/nsd-fara\">explains<\/a> that FARA requires \u201ccertain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities \u2026 to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both O\u2019Rourke and Buttigieg returned their donations from Putorti after learning about his FARA registration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI voluntarily terminated my registration under the Foreign Agent Registration Act effective July 31, 2019. I was initially registered out of an abundance of caution, in advance of a client meeting I ultimately did not attend,\u201d Putorti told the National Interest when the registration was discovered. \u201cMy contributions to these candidates were not accepted and were instead returned to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Putorti\u2019s work on behalf of Qatar is especially curious given that he is openly gay, while Qatar is notoriously anti-LGBT. In November 2019, months after Putorti terminated his FARA registration, Forbes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/laurabegleybloom\/2019\/11\/25\/most-dangerous-places-safest-lgbtq-gay-travelers\/?sh=c853a6711694\">ranked<\/a> Qatar as the second-most dangerous country in the world for LGBTQ individuals, behind only Nigeria. The list was created by Lyric Fergusson and her husband, who created the LGBTQ+ Danger Index to rate countries according to how safe they are for gay travelers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComing in second on our LGBTQ+ Danger Index is Qatar,\u201d Fergusson told Forbes. \u201cThis oil-rich Middle Eastern country enforces up to three years in prison, flogging and the death penalty under Sharia law for any acts of homosexuality. Tourism to Qatar is expected to skyrocket for the 2022 World Cup\u2014which is to take place there\u2014and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/qatar-world-cup-sponsors-and-broadcasters-risk-red-card-over-anti-gay-laws-qcdwkcxmq\">suspending anti-LGBT laws<\/a>\u00a0during the tournament has been discussed, though ultimately rejected by the Qatari government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Putorti tweeted in support of Pride, saying that he felt accepted in Upstate New York when he came out as gay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I came out as gay, the people in my small hometown in Upstate New York accepted me \u2014 because that\u2019s who they are. I acknowledge the privilege of feeling safe enough to come out and of being accepted,\u201d Putorti <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattPutorti\/status\/1407705253663973377\">tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Putorti\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to a Daily Wire request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Putorti, an attorney in New York City running against newly appointed House Republican Conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), previously registered as a foreign agent to lobby on behalf &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2281234,"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\/06\/GettyImages-1232884279.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Democrat Challenging Elise Stefanik Previously Lobbied For Qatar","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232884279.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Democrat Challenging Elise Stefanik Previously Lobbied For Qatar","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572919","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=572919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}