Lobbing the Interests of Saudi Arabia in the USA under the Presidency of Donald Trump
The aim of the article is to make an assessments about the ways and means of influencing of the Saudi lobby during Donald Trump Presidency. Following the Saudi money, author tries to detect the American lobbying firms, their tools, goals and efficiency of influence of American Congress and public opinion. Riyadh needed to improve its image to continue cooperation with the United States after the attack 9/11. Since then, many American lobbying firms have been employed by Saudi Arabia's Embassy to lobby Riyadh interests. In 2017, Riyadh ranked seventh in terms of the lobbying expenditures in the US among other countries. But the Saudi lobby is stuck in many problems associated with the opposition of Democrats to President Trump's policy in Congress. The goals of Saudi lobbying are: revising the nuclear deal with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action); to continue military cooperation with the US and arms procurement; to change or disrupt “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act” (JASTA); to obtain support for blockade of Qatar; to disrupt the approval by Congress of “No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act” (NOPEC); concluding a bilateral civil nuclear agreement (“123 agreement”); to block the resolution of the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen. The United States also included the Iranian revolutionary guard Corps in the list of terrorist organizations, which was in the interests of KSA. Riyadh had a lot of problems after the murder in the Consulate of the KSA in Istanbul of the columnist of the “Washington Post” Jamal Khashoggi, known for harsh criticism of the Saudi regime, and lobbyists tried to repair the reputation of the KSA.