The Trump campaign's deputy communications director and transition team's communications director has gone from working for the president to lobbying his administration on behalf of a Russian energy and aluminum firm controlled by a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
CNN:
Bryan Lanza, who is in regular contact with White House officials, is lobbying on behalf of the chairman of EN+ Group, an energy and aluminum firm presently controlled by Oleg Deripaska, according to several sources. Deripaska is a billionaire who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and was the target of US sanctions imposed last month. Lanza was a CNN political contributor but is no longer with the network.
Lanza is representing the chairman of EN+ Group, but not Deripaska directly. The company is seeking to reduce Deripaska's ownership in the company enough to be freed from US sanctions. Deripaska is expected to maintain a substantial stake in the company.
CNN says Lanza's role as a managing director with Mercury Public Affairs LLC in Washington is not unusual in DC where there is a constant revolving door between those who govern and those who seek to influence government, but given the ongoing investigation into possible collaboration between the Trump campaign and the Russian government election interference on his behalf, Lanza's work for Deripaska's company seems particularly shameless.
Deripaska is seeking to sell enough of his stake in EN+ Group -- the group whose chairman hired Mercury to represent it before the Trump administration -- to free the company from sanctions. Under the Treasury Department's rules, companies that are under the majority control of sanctioned people are themselves automatically sanctioned until the person in question reduces their stake in the company below 50%. Lanza's firm legally disclosed the deal to the government last week.
Lanza's involvement with EN+ Group began within the last month or so, according to a source familiar with the transaction. The source said the former Trump campaign aide is not representing Deripaska himself, only the board chairman of the group attempting to free itself from the Russian oligarch's control by helping to reduce Deripaska's stake in EN+ Group from roughly 70% to below 50%. That chairman -- the former British energy minister, Lord Gregory Barker -- is listed as Mercury's client.
The source familiar with the transaction noted Lanza and the Mercury team's first phone call with Barker shortly before the Treasury Department granted Deripaska's companies, including EN+ Group, an additional month to get in compliance with sanctions. The source said Lanza and other Mercury lobbyists presented the extension to the administration officials as a "win for the president" because it would ultimately force a Russian oligarch to cede control of major companies.
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Mercury itself has undergone scrutiny over the past year for its role in the Ukrainian lobbying operation that ensnared Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the election and related matters. The firm has denied wrongdoing and has said its employees have cooperated with investigators.
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Deripaska has intersected with the Trump orbit on a few occasions, most notably with Manafort. While at the helm of the Trump campaign, Manafort used an intermediary to offer Deripaska private briefings about the election, according to The Washington Post. Mueller's team later noted in a March court filing that the intermediary "has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016."
No evidence has emerged to suggest that Manafort ever briefed Deripaska. But Mueller's team has brought charges against Manafort for his lobbying work and financial reporting before he joined the Trump campaign. Manafort has pleaded not guilty.
Lanza is not the only former member of the Trump campaign and transition working on behalf of Russian interests.
Former New York Republican Rep. John Sweeney has made more than $200,000 lobbying on behalf of a European pipeline venture owned by Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian natural gas company, according to federal lobbying disclosures. The New York Republican previously worked on Trump's campaign and assisted with administration hires during the presidential transition. Sweeney declined to discuss details about the clients he represents.
Former Trump campaign aide is helping Russian firm shed sanctions (CNN)