Qatar Lobbying in the US: $250M Across 88 FARA Firms

Qatar has spent nearly $250 million on 88 FARA-registered lobbying and public relations firms since 2016, according to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. As of the Institute's September 2025 brief, Qatar retained 28 of those firms at once. Between January 2021 and June 2025, Qatar's agents reported 627 in-person meetings with U.S. political contacts, more than any other country. OpenSecrets data through 2025 puts Qatar's disclosed total at $269.3 million.

The media side of the operation changed after the 2024 election. A Washington Examiner review of Justice Department records found that just over 10 percent of Qatari agents' media communications between January 1, 2024 and Election Day went to conservative outlets or commenters. After Election Day, that share rose to more than half.

The best-known result is a March 2025 interview between Tucker Carlson and Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. FARA records tie the interview to Lumen8 Advisors, which the Qatari embassy pays $180,000 a month for media coaching and consulting.

Part of EPR's Public Affairs pillar, the Government Relations and Lobbying hub and the FARA guide. Companion maps: Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and the UAE. See also the biggest lobbying firms by revenue.

How much has Qatar spent on U.S. lobbying?

Qatar has spent nearly $250 million on U.S. lobbying and public relations since 2016, spread across 88 FARA-registered firms, according to the Quincy Institute's analysis of Justice Department filings. OpenSecrets Foreign Lobby Watch shows $269.3 million for 2016 through 2025, ninth among countries, with Barzan Holdings the largest single Qatari principal at $155.8 million. Three of the top-earning FARA firms in 2024, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Holland & Knight and BGR Government Affairs, all worked for the Qatari Embassy. For how those firms rank against the rest of Washington, see Biggest Lobbying Firms by Revenue 2025 and K Street Power Structure.

Cornerstone's contract bars the firm from advising, representing or accepting engagement from any other sovereign state in the Middle East and North Africa region, other than Qatar. The table below lists the firms named in the Quincy brief and the Washington Examiner review, with the terms each source reports.

Why did Qatar start spending heavily in 2017?

Qatar began spending heavily on U.S. influence after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their allies blockaded it in June 2017. Saudi Arabia and the UAE had each spent nearly four times what Qatar spent on lobbying and public relations firms in the year before the blockade, according to the Quincy brief. For the Saudi side of that rivalry, see the Saudi Arabia Lobbying Industry Map.

Qatar then spent $18 million on 33 FARA-registered firms in a single year. Two days after the blockade began, it signed a $2.5 million deal with the firm of former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

A 2018 Wall Street Journal report, cited by Quincy, said Republican strategist Nick Muzin ran a campaign aimed at 250 people seen as influential with President Trump. By the end of Trump's first term, OpenSecrets data showed Qatar had more than tripled its FARA-registered spending.

Why did Qatar's lobbying pivot to conservative media?

Qatar's agents shifted toward conservative media after the 2024 election, with the share of their media communications aimed at conservative outlets rising from just over 10 percent to more than half, according to the Washington Examiner's review of Justice Department records. Fox News Digital, Just the News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail and the Washington Examiner itself were all targeted to varying degrees.

The Examiner documented two pitch-to-publication sequences. GRV Strategies flagged a story to a New York Post employee on December 4, 2024, and the Post ran a story on December 7 that cast Qatar positively on Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. On February 20, GRV texted a Fox News employee a story idea on foreign policy, and Fox published a piece three days later with a subheading saying Qatar held the line against Iranian pressure over its $6 billion.

The Examiner added that public records cannot prove whether the pitches caused the stories to run. GRV is led by Garrett Ventry, a former Republican congressional staffer.

Lumen8 Advisors is the firm FARA records tie to the Carlson interview, which drew nearly six million views across X and YouTube, according to the Examiner. The Quincy brief also says Lumen8 arranged the interview on behalf of Qatar. Neil Patel, CEO of Carlson's media company, has denied that Carlson or the company accepted money from any foreign country for the interview.

Which members of Congress does Qatar's lobbying contact most?

Senator Lindsey Graham is the most-contacted member of Congress in Qatar's lobbying operation, with 89 reported contacts from Qatar's agents since 2023, according to the Quincy Institute. Graham condemned Qatar on October 7, 2023, and a lobbyist from the firm Neal Creek spoke with him that same day. Qatar's lobby reported more contact with Graham that month than in the prior 10 months combined.

Qatar also hosts congressional staff. In 2024, staffers from at least 48 congressional offices traveled to Doha, based on BGR Government Affairs filings. Qatar's roster includes at least three former members of Congress, among them former Representative Jim Moran, whose firm receives about $80,000 a month.

Registrants representing Qatari interests contributed more than $4.1 million to U.S. electoral campaigns since 2023. Quincy states this does not imply illegality or that Qatari funds were used, because these firms have other clients.

What has Qatar's lobbying won in Washington?

Qatar's lobbyists helped defeat or strip several measures aimed at Qatar between 2023 and 2024, according to the Quincy Institute. The brief documents four outcomes:

• A House-passed bill carrying an amendment that urged Qatar to turn over Hamas leadership died in the Senate, after Qatar's agents reported more than 30 Senate contacts in the month following the November 30, 2023 House vote.
• Section 1287 of the draft fiscal 2025 defense bill, which required a report on Al Udeid Air Base's value given Qatar's Hamas ties, was removed from the final text.
• Bills to suspend or review Qatar's major non-NATO ally status did not pass.
• In January 2024, the U.S. and Qatar agreed to extend the U.S. military presence at Al Udeid for another 10 years, as Reuters reported.

The State Department listed more than $26 billion in active government-to-government arms cases with Qatar as of January 2025, making Qatar the second-largest foreign military sales partner of the United States, per the Quincy brief.

Deep dive on the wider Gulf corridor: the UAE Lobbying Industry Map.

How has FARA enforcement changed under Bondi?

Attorney General Pam Bondi's February 2025 memorandum limited criminal FARA enforcement to conduct similar to traditional espionage, according to the Washington Examiner. Bondi previously registered under FARA through Ballard Partners to support the Qatari embassy, and her filing described the work as support on combating human trafficking, per the Quincy brief.

Quincy also counts FBI Director Kash Patel and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin among Trump administration officials with past Qatar ties. Patel disclosed consulting for the Embassy of Qatar through his firm Trishul LLC until November 2024. Zeldin consulted for Heritage Advisors, a venture capital firm established by a former Qatari government employee.

Quincy also states that much of Qatar's influence has been earned through legal means. A lobbyist working with the embassy told Quincy that the idea every dollar Qatar spends in the United States counts as influence is absurd.

Full enforcement context: Foreign Influence PR Study, the FARA compliance and diligence framework and the DOJ FARA warning for PR firms. For how other countries regulate the same work, see Canada's Foreign Influence Registry: PR Firm Filing Rules.

How do you read Qatar's FARA filings?

Qatar's FARA filings fall into three document types, and each answers a different question. Reading them in this order shows who is paid, what they do and what they say.

• Registration exhibits (Exhibit A and B) show the contract: the fee, the scope of work and clauses such as Cornerstone's MENA exclusivity.
• Supplemental statements list political activities, including meetings and calls. They are filed only every six months, so the most recent activity is never in the public data yet.
• Informational materials hold the talking points sent to Congress and the media, such as GRV Strategies' October 2024 one-pager on Qatar's ceasefire mediation.

Figures on this page reflect the Quincy brief of September 8, 2025, the Washington Examiner review of May 17, 2025 and OpenSecrets totals through 2025. Check the Justice Department's FARA eFile database for filings made since.

Sources and the Qatar cluster on Everything-PR

Primary sources for this page are the Quincy Institute brief Soft Power, Hard Influence: How Qatar Became a Giant in Washington and the Washington Examiner report Conservative media targeted by Qatari foreign influence operations. Related Everything-PR coverage:

• Qatar's communications system, the country profile
• Foreign Influence PR Study, the country-by-country FARA data set
• FARA Explained: Law, Case Files and Country Lobbying Maps, the index to every country map
• Government Relations and Lobbying: Strategy and Intelligence
• Saudi Arabia Lobbying Industry Map, Japan Lobbying Industry Map and UAE Lobbying Industry Map
• Top lobbying firms directory
• Biggest Lobbying Firms by Revenue 2025 and Biggest Lobbying Groups in the US
• Canada Foreign Influence Registry: PR Firm Filing Rules

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