A former Republican congresswoman who is expected to speak Monday night at the Democratic National Convention once led a large company in Washington that lobbied for Russia – and even extended to then-Sen. The staff of Joe Biden as part of that work.
Former GOP rep. Susan Molinari represented Staten Island for three terms, until she left Congress in 1997. Shortly after retiring, she joined the Washington Group in 2001 as President and CEO.
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Several years later, though, in 2007, the Washington Group entered into a contract with global public relations firm Ketchum on behalf of Russia, which was later revealed to be worth $ 7.5 million, according to a 2009 report. the New Republic.
De Hill reported that much of the Washington Group’s lobbying work at the moment was related to Russia’s energy policy, as well as its status with the World Trade Organization.
Dan-Google Vice President of Public Policy Susan Molinari joins a discussion on Zika at the Woodrow Wilson Center May 24, 2016 in Washington, DC (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
As part of that work, the Washington Group had contact with the office of the chairman of the Senate First Commemoration Committee, who was then Joe Biden.
The Hill, in 2008, specifically reported that Molinari himself had contact with aid workers to Biden, as well as the top Republicans in the Foreign Affairs Committee, who at the time Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Was, during the military conflict between Russia and the country Georgia.
However, there is no indication that Biden or his associates did anything inappropriate regarding that outcome as Russia.
In fact, Biden traveled to Georgia at the time and called for $ 1 billion in emergency aid for the country to “rebuild” and “preserve its democratic institutions.”
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Molinari, who continued to work for Google, was inducted into the Democratic convention line-up Monday night as one of several Republicans speaking in support of now-presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, alongside former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, among others.
Molinari’s remarks are likely to fall under the convention’s Putting Country over Party theme.
While at the company, the Washington Group stood for scrutiny for its business relationship with Russia – a country that Democrats have ever beaten Democrats since 2016 for pro-Trump election mediation that is thought to continue to this day.
Molinari told Politico in 2015 that the company eventually limited its relationship with Russia to lobbying for membership in the World Trade Organization.
“The theme of the evening at the Democratic convention is ‘country over party’ and they have actually chosen a headline speaker who was a registered lobbyist for Russia,” Trump 2020 press secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News on Monday. “I do not know what is worse, the sheer ignorance of this decision or the fact that Democrats are proud of it.”
Gidley added: “However, it marks just half a century of Joe Biden’s failures in elected office and his constant refusal to put America first.”
Fox News could not reach Molinari for comment.
The Daily Beast reported that there could also be surprise speakers at the convention.
Molinari delivered the keynote address at the 1996 GOP Convention.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
