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(4,276 posts) Fri Apr 17, 2026, 04:43 PM Friday

These 100 former US lawmakers have become foreign lobbyists [View all]

Many of them use their access to Washington to work for authoritarian states that want to influence our foreign policy

Analysis | Washington Politics
washington politics revolving-door

Nick Cleveland-Stout Ben Freeman
Apr 17, 2026

As Pete Hegseth was fighting an uphill battle to be confirmed as the secretary of defense, an experienced politico came running to whip votes: Norm Coleman, a former Republican senator from Minnesota.

After shepherding Hegseth around the Hill and lobbying his former colleagues, Coleman testified at Hegseth’s hearing, lauding the nominee and decrying the Biden administration’s failure to prevent Yemen’s Houthis from endangering shipping lanes. “Yes, Pete Hegseth is an out of the box nominee,” he said. “I say it's high time to get out of the box.”

What Coleman didn’t mention in his testimony was that he is a paid lobbyist for the Saudi government. Working with the firm Hogan Lovells, which received $3,000,000 from the Saudi Embassy the prior year, Coleman played a central role in rehabilitating the Kingdom’s image after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/revolving-door-congress/

Where we are.

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These 100 former US lawmakers have become foreign lobbyists [View all] Passages Friday OP

Norm Coleman has always been a weasel (my apologies to weasels) so this doesn't surprise me. Ocelot II Friday #1

100% agreed. Major sleaze. Passages Friday #2

And only became a Senator because Wellstone died LNM Friday #3