Turkey signed a $2.4 million, one-year lobbying contract with Ballard Partners on August 8, hiring some of the closest p...

Turkey signed a $2.4 million, one-year lobbying contract with Ballard Partners on August 8, hiring some of the closest political allies of Donald Trump in a push to rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program. The deal, worth $200,000 per month, was disclosed in U.S. Justice Department filings cited by Middle East Eye. Ballard Partners is led by Brian Ballard, a prominent Republican donor from Florida who worked on Trump's presidential campaigns. The firm's previous ties to the White House run deep. Former White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and former Attorney General Pam Bondi are both listed among the firm's former staff, according to Bloomberg. The client on this contract is Turkey's Ministry of National Defense. Ankara was kicked out of the F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing Russia's S-400 air defense system, and has been lobbying to return ever since. The team assigned to Turkey's account includes Thomas Boudreaux, who served as a special assistant to Trump and senior director for legislative affairs at the National Security Council until April 2025. He was removed during the shake-up linked to the departure of then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, reportedly after far-right activist Laura Loomer presented Trump with a list of officials she claimed were not loyal to him. Also on the team is former Democratic Florida congressman Robert Wexler, a longtime advocate for U.S.-Turkey relations who co-founded the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations in 2001. Wexler currently serves as president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace in Washington. This is not Turkey's first time hiring Ballard. During Trump's first term in 2017, Ankara signed a $1.5 million contract with the same firm, reportedly focused on maneuvering around federal charges against state-owned Turkish bank Halkbank. The Trump Justice Department dropped those charges earlier this year. #Turkey #F35 #NATO