Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) praised Qatar earlier this year after visiting the Persian Gulf nation but failed to note he had received $50,000 from a lobbyist working for Qatar, Mother Jones reported on Tuesday.
After Huckabee visited Qatar in January, he posted a tweet touting how “surprisingly beautiful, modern, and hospitable” Doha, Qatar’s capital, was.
However, the father of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not mention that his Florida corporation, Blue Diamond Horizons, received a $50,000 payment as an “honorarium for visit,” Mother Jones reported.
{mosads}Joseph Allaham, a former owner of kosher steakhouses in New York, registered with the Justice Department on Friday as a foreign agent of the Qatari government, according to Mother Jones.
In his registration, Allaham noted that he paid $50,000 to Blue Diamond Horizons on Nov. 23 for Huckabee’s visit.
The payment came from $1.45 million the Qatari government paid Allaham for his work promoting “community engagement” that would benefit Qatar.
Huckabee visited Doha at the same time as Alan Dershowitz, the celebrity lawyer that is close with President Trump, and Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America. The trips were among at least 20 coordinated by Allaham and Nick Muzin, a former aide for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who worked as a Qatari lobbyist until last month, Mother Jones reported.
(Dershowitz is an opinion contributor for The Hill.)
According to Mother Jones, the trips were paid for by the Qatari government and were part of an effort to curry favor with prominent American Jewish leaders. Huckabee is not Jewish but is a vocal supporter of Israel.
Their work with American backers of Israel was part of a larger effort to improve relations between Qatar and the U.S. as it continues its rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, the two Middle Eastern nations blockaded Qatar with initial support from Trump.