One of Donald Trump’s former top White House advisors and administration officials has once again found herself at the center of a whole lot of questions and scrutiny after foreign lobbying disclosure reports confirmed that Kellyanne Conway has registered as a foreign agent representing Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk‘s foundation — a man with deep-seated ties to her old boss and former president.
Way back in 2015, Pinchuck, a Ukrainian steel magnate worth literal billions, cut a whopping $150,000 check to Donald Trump’s charitable organization to book the man who was then in his first go-around as a United States presidential candidate to speak at a conference in Kyiv.
That very same donation ended up being embroiled in the infamous Mueller Russia Probe when then Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team investigated that 6-figure payment in connection to their probe into Donald Trump, his 2016 presidential campaign, and their ties to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 American presidential election, according to reporting from the New York Times.
Robert Mueller’s final report did not specifically address this particular donation.
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Kellyanne Conway is now representing the U.K. office of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which the disclosure filings describe as a “registered, private, nonpartisan, philanthropic company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom primarily focused on advancing artistic, scientific, charitable, benevolent, and philanthropic purposes in Ukraine or related to Ukraine.”
The new disclosure report reveals that Conway has been hired to influence “political leaders” as well as “lawmakers, experts, and opinion makers” in the US when it comes to a variety of issues related to Ukraine. This includes “making best efforts to convince” them to “attend the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv on September 13 – 14, per the disclosure report.
Yalta European Strategy’s annual gathering, also known as YES, just so happens to be the very same conference that Donald Trump attended virtually back in 2015, following the $150,000 “donation” from Pinchuk that has been alleged to be a payment from the Ukrainian billionaire in exchange for Donald’s appearance at the event.
As part of her role as an agent for Pinchuk’s foundation, Conway is also responsible for engaging U.S. political leaders and experts to “explain the importance of Ukraine to the rules-based order and the protection of democratic principles,” as well as “raising awareness among US decision makers of Ukrainians’ fight for freedom and the Russian illegal war of aggression.”
The former high-level Trump advisor is additionally tasked with assisting with organizing meetings between U.S. political leaders and Ukrainian soldiers and veterans and keeping Pinchuk informed of achievements throughout the process.
According to the agreement between Conway and Pinchuk, the former Trump aide will be paid $50,000 a month for her services throughout the length of her contract, which spans from July 25 through Nov. 14, 2024, and features an option to extend.
You can find the full report on this news from ABC here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
