(Pete Marovich – Pool/Getty Images)
Lobbyists selling their connections to former President Donald Trump capped off a lucrative four-year run with their best year in 2020. After raking in millions from high-profile clients, these Washington influencers are already losing clients under President Joe Biden but could still benefit from Trump’s continued influence over the GOP.
Brian Ballard, chairman of Trump’s 2016 big-dollar fundraising apparatus and vice chairman of the Trump inaugural committee, made the most of his deep-rooted relationship with the president. A power player in Florida politics, Ballard didn’t lobby at the federal level until 2017, Trump’s first year in office. Since then, his firm raked in $71.4 million in lobbying revenue.
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On this week’s 51%, a musician talks about what she calls her new feminine EP. Teenage girls of color in ballet say this form of dance caters to white women. A mother speaks out about her missing son in the Army while another woman offers support for families of missing service members. Plus, Dr. Jeri Burns talks about the home life during COVID.
African American singer/songwriter Annie Mack does it all, from powerhouse blues to New Americana and beyond, highlighting her vocal presence and original songs. She released two new singles in 2020, “Shadows of a Kingdom” and “Judge and Jury.” Her new EP “Testify” was due out at the end of January. She is also featured in the book “50 Women in the Blues” (Supernova Books 2020). This story was produced by Dixie Treichel.
A Step to Ease the Pandemic Mental Health Crisis scientificamerican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scientificamerican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Did English Puritans Commit Genocide in New England?
A nineteenth-century engraving depicting the burning of a Pequot Nation Fort, believed to be the Mystic massacre in 1637
WASHINGTON – Sometime before dawn on May 27, 1637, English militia from Massachusetts and Connecticut, backed by several hundred Narragansett and Mohegan allies, launched a surprise attack on the fortified Pequot village of Mystic, one of about 20 Pequot tribal villages in southeastern Connecticut.
By now, Plymouth Colony, established by the Pilgrims in 1620, was a self-sufficient settlement. After a rocky first winter that saw half the colonists die, the Pilgrims and local Wampanoag tribe signed a peace deal that still held 16 years later.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Washington lobbyists with close ties to outgoing President Donald Trump were paid lucrative sums by clients angling for last-minute pardons from the president.
Matthew Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and a close Trump ally, brought in the largest haul. According to a lobbying filing released Thursday night, Schlapp was paid a whopping $750,000 since mid-December to lobby Trump to pardon Parker Petit, a top Republican donor who served as Georgia finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign. Petit was convicted of securities fraud in November and faced up to 20 years in federal prison.