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Former vice president for the United States Joe Biden, who is running for president, has refused two donations made by a lobbyist for Morocco and Qatar, California-based daily Mercury News revealed on Friday.
Biden’s presidential campaign has «refunded» a total of $2,800 donated by Jay Footlik, who operates as a lobbyist for the Moroccan and Qatari embassies. Quoting a report filed by Footlik’s firm with the Department of Justice, the same source indicates that the American lobbyist received $257,000 in March, 2019, form the Moroccan embassy for services he rendered from July to December, 2018.
The two donations made by Footlik were refused because they violated Joe Biden’s policy against accepting lobbyist cash. Indeed, on his campaign website Biden indicates that he «does not accept contributions from corporations those registered as federal lobbyists or under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or foreign nationals», such as Footlik.
Defending his position, Footlik said in an interview that he did not know about Biden’s campaign policy when he made the donations, adding that he got refunded.
In addition to his work with the Moroccan and Qatari embassies in New York, Footlik’s name is linked to his partner Richard Smotkin. The latter made headlines last year for allegedly being behind the former Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt’s visit to Morocco.
Media revealed at the time that a few months after Pruitt’s December 2017 controversial visit to the Kingdom, Smotkin «inked his $40,000 contract with the Moroccan government».
