Qatar sought to lobby US policy ‘influencers’

Riyadh : Qatar attempted to lobby 250 individuals whom they deemed “influential” in the Trump administration by offering them trips to Doha, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The newspaper reported that New York restaurateur Joey Allaham and his lobbying business partner Nick Muzin courted those individuals, including Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and attorney Alan Dershowitz who travelled to Doha. Dershowitz had written a column supporting Qatar after his trip there, which was funded by the Qatari Amir, although he did say in the article that he was reluctant to accept because he has “heard that Qatar was contributing to Hamas, which is a terrorist group, and that it was supporting Iran.”

Dershowitz told The Journal that he felt tricked because he was unaware that the purpose of the trip would be to use him for political gain. “If I had known their purpose with me was maybe to impact the president, I would not have gone,” Dershowitz told the Journal. Huckabee was reportedly paid $50,000 by Allaham.He did not respond to a request for comment.