Lobbying firm with close ties to Trump is poised to profit from new administration, experts say

When government officials in the Dominican Republic desperately sought COVID-19 drugs in July of 2020 -- as the U.S., under the Trump administration, was stockpiling the world's supply of remdesivir -- they turned to a lobbying firm with deep ties to Donald Trump that they had been paying more than $100,000 a month.

"We have an urgent need for these and [pharmaceutical company] Gilead is requesting WH approval for Gilead to provide these through diplomatic channels to the DR Presidential Palace," an official from the Dominican Republic's consulate wrote to veteran lobbyist Brian Ballard.

Within a matter of hours, the solution to the Dominican Republic's problem was in motion, with Ballard directly connecting the official with Anand Shah, then a deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Association, according to an email filed with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

"We have had the privilege of representing the Dominican Republic for several years and have been very pleased with the pro American policies of the government. I hope you might advise on the best way forward to assist on this critical matter," Ballard wrote.

The exchange illustrates one example of the kind of services for which foreign and domestic clients flocked to Ballard Partners during Trump's first administration. After nearly two decades in business servicing mainly Florida clients, the firm emerged as a dominant force in Trump's Washington, notching blue-clip clients like Amazon, American Airlines and Uber and earning more than $24 million in federal domestic lobbying in 2020, just four years after opening their first D.C. office.

While the firm's massive growth stalled slightly after Trump left office, the firm appears well positioned to profit from Trump's return to the White House, prompting concerns from some consumer advocacy groups and several ethics experts.

'We've got friends'

This election cycle, Ballard bundled a total of $1.8 million in campaign contributions for a Trump fundraising vehicle from other donors -- and Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and his nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, both worked at various times as registered lobbyists with the company. Wiles worked at the lobbying firm for eight years -- leaving the firm in 2019 -- and Bondi has been a partner since 2019. After leaving Ballard Partners, Wiles ran Trump's Florida campaign in 2020, worked for Mercury Public Affairs, then served as Trump's campaign manager for this election cycle.

"It's definitely two of the most important positions in the federal government," said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at the progressive watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And the fact that they're both coming from the same lobbying firm sends a powerful message: 'If you have interests that need to be protected ... we've got friends.'"

While administrations from both parties have routinely filled government positions with former lobbyists, Trump's decision to tap two loyalists whose most recent prior job experience was lobbying has prompted concerns about the revolving door of politics and questions about Trump's vow to "drain the swamp."

"The pitch in the election was that the swamp is too swampy and the working class has been ignored, and corporations have been sending their jobs abroad," said Jon Golinger, an advocate at the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. “We'll be looking to see whether those issues are prioritized, or whether it's the same old business as usual with new people in charge."

"Susie Wiles and Pam Bondi are highly respected individuals who have proven deeply loyal to President Trump and the American people who just re-elected him," said incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement to ABC News. "Pam, Susie, and all of President Trump's nominees will abide by all ethical obligations in their respective roles."

As Trump inched closer to the White House over the last year, Ballard Partners also signed high-profile clients with key stakes affected by federal policy, including Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel, whose merger with U.S. Steel is opposed by both Trump and President Joe Biden, and TikTok, which could be banned if its owner does not sell the app to a non-Chinese entity.

Ballard Partners is also registered as a foreign agent for the Embassy of Japan since last year, making more than $300,000 for their work so far, per government filings. According to Department of Justice disclosures, Ballard has facilitated meetings and phone calls with journalists and lawmakers on behalf of the Japanese embassy.

In October, the Embassy for the Republic of Sudan -- which is embroiled in a civil war between two rival parts of its military government that has displaced more than 8 million people and killed 15,000 -- signed a $50,000-a-month contract with Ballard Partners for assistance with "communications with U.S. government officials and decision makers," according to federal disclosures.

"If you're a company or a government or another organization, you're hiring Ballard Partners because you think they can open doors for you," said Nick Schwellenbach, a senior investigator at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. "They're very intertwined at the highest levels with the incoming Trump administration, and they stand to profit significantly."

'Personal connections to President Trump'

Ballard Partners quickly established itself in Washington during the first Trump administration, after focusing predominantly on lobbying Florida officials, including on behalf of Trump's businesses. Brian Ballard first got to know Trump a few years after Trump purchased the Mar-a-Lago estate that's now his home, when Ballard penned a letter to Trump to praise him about his 1987 bestselling book, "The Art of the Deal."

"When the president was elected, a lot of corporations we represent in Florida and folks from around the county started to call up and say, 'We don't know folks in the administration' and 'We'd like to get to know some folks in the administration,'" Ballard told the Tallahassee Democrat in 2017.

Ballard Partners declined a request for comment from ABC News for this story.

Ballard Partners opened up its first D.C. office in 2017, quickly signing clients and making $9.8 million in domestic federal lobbying revenue during that first year, according to disclosures. By 2018, they doubled their revenue to $18.2 million before peaking in 2020 with $24.5 million in revenue from domestic federal lobbying.

The company made $1.8 million lobbying on behalf of the private prison operator Geo Group amid Trump's crackdown on immigration, and made $1.64 million from French wine and spirits maker Pernod Ricard, $860,000 from General Motors, $780,000 from Boeing, $420,000 from Uber, $360,000 from Major League Baseball, and $150,000 from DraftKings, according to financial disclosures.

"Mr. Ballard, a Republican National Committee finance vice chair and Trump super-donor, had built his firm around his personal connections to President Trump," the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability wrote in a 2024 report entitled "White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid off President Trump."

According to the report, Trump's businesses received millions of dollars from foreign entities located in 20 different countries during Trump's presidency. After the report was published, Trump's son Eric Trump, who helped run the Trump Organization while Trump was president, told ABC News in a statement that the House Democrats' "narrative is insane," citing profits that Trump voluntarily donated to the Treasury Department to offset his business earnings from foreign entities.

Ballard Partners also made millions by working as agents for foreign countries, with deals to represent Turkey and the Turkish bank Halkbank for $125,000 a month while the U.S. Justice Department probed the bank for allegedly violating Iranian sanctions. The lobbying firm made $2 million from Halkbank before dropping the bank as a client after the Justice Department indicted the bank for evading the U.S. sanctions on Iran in 2019. Halkbank has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In other foreign lobbying, Ballard Partners represented the government of Kosovo while it negotiated with neighboring Serbia; it advocated for lifting U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe; it sought to improve U.S.-Guatemala bilateral relations; and it represented an exiled Democratic Republic of the Congo opposition leader.

As registered foreign agents, Bondi represented Qatar from 2019 to 2020 for work related to anti-human trafficking efforts, and Wiles represented one of Nigeria's main political parties for two months in 2019.

'Here to stay'

After reaching its peak revenue of $24.5 million in federal domestic lobbying in 2020, Ballard Partners gradually lost business as the control of power in Washington shifted from Trump to Biden, making approximately $18 million in both 2021 and 2022 as lobbying firms with ties to Biden and his administration flourished.

"We had a wonderful run, we're going to be here to stay, but it's not going to be the same," Brian Ballard told The Hill in 2021.

But with Trump returning to Washington in a matter of weeks, Ballard appears poised to benefit from a second wind -- in part because former lobbyists Wiles and Bondi will occupy top positions in the administration, according to the experts who spoke to ABC News.

"There's a lot of opportunity here for their former firm and their former clients, even though there are ethics restrictions in place," Canter said, regarding federal regulations that prohibit government employees from working on matters involving their former employer or former clients within the past year.

The concern, Canter said, is that the public might not be best served by the arrangement.

"Corporate interests will take precedence over the public interest," she said.