Egypt lobby in the United States

The Egypt lobby in the United States is a collection of lawyers, public relation firms and professional lobbyists paid directly by the government of Egypt to lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of the interests of the government of Egypt.

A key goal of Egypt's lobbyists is to secure a large allocation of foreign aid; more than $50 billion in American aid has gone to Egypt since 1975.^[1] According to ProPublica, this massive amount of American aid has "enabled" the Egyptian government to postpone democratic reform.^[1]

According to ProPublica, in 2007-8 Egypt ranked sixth in a list of the number of meetings between lobbyists for foreign governments and congressmen.^[1]

During the Egyptian crisis after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, lobbyists Tony Podesta, Robert L. Livingston and Toby Moffett, paid by the Egyptian government, successfully defeated nonbinding Senate Resolution 586 that called on Egypt to "curtail human rights abuses." The legislative success highlighted the influence of the Egypt lobby and was an example of the extent to which President Hosni Mubarak used lobbying to protect its interests in the United States. According to Politico, Egypt spent $1.1 million in lobbying fees annually.^[2][3] In the lobbying campaign, former congressman from Connecticut Toby Moffat told his former colleagues that the bill "would be viewed as an insult" and that it would be wrong to insult an important ally. "We were just saying to them, 'Don't do this now to our friends in Egypt,' " he said. In the wake of President Mubarak's resignation, lobbyists Podesta, Moffat and Livingston continue to share "a joint, multimillion-dollar (lobbying) contract with Egypt."^[3]

In January 2017, the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS), also known as the Mukhabarat, hired public relations firms Weber Shandwick and Cassidy & Associates to lobby on Egypt's behalf in Washington, D.C., boost its image, and advocate for the Muslim Brotherhood to be listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization for $1.8 million per year. It was the first known such engagement by EGIS. According to analyst Mokhtar Awad, Egypt believed its relationship with the United States had suffered due to poor public relations.^[4] In July, Weber Shandick ended its $1.2 million contract with EGIS after poor publicity associated with Egypt's human rights abuses. In addition to the EGIS contract, the Egyptian Government also paid $2 million to lobbying firm Glover Park Group.^[5]