How Qatar Uses An American Nonprofit To Hide Major Influence Operation In The United States | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Crooks said Reyes has established a "personal relationship" with the Qataris, and has been "able to strengthen his relationship" through his numerous trips to Doha. That relationship came in handy, Crooks says, when Reyes was able to use his personal connections with Qatar to get high-profile refugees out of Afghanistan and settled in Utah.


    Schanzer says being helpful after the collapse of Kabul to the Taliban is right out of Qatar's playbook to play both "arsonist and firefighter" on the world stage, explaining that Qatar supported the Taliban's comeback.

    "They enabled the Taliban, brokered these discussions between the United States and the Taliban that ultimately led to America's ill-fated departure from the country," Schanzer said. "Qatar helped pave the way for all of this, and now they're facilitating discussions to help for the release of individuals from within Taliban-ruled Afghanistan."

    "They're using the soft power they established to be able to do that. This is how the Qataris operate."

    In addition to paying for U.S. officials to travel to Doha, the Qataris have shown up stateside at AGA events. In 2019, three Qatari officials - the King's Attorney General, Qatar's Ambassador to the U.S., and Qatar's Attorney General - were given speaking roles at AGA's annual meeting, according to a conference agenda. Video of the event shows the Qataris were introduced for their panel by none other than Utah's Reyes, who referenced his past visits.

    Reyes called the Attorney General, Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri, "a favorite among many of our attorneys general, who helped host us and showed incredible hospitality to our delegation."

    "Thank you general, assalamu alaikum," Reyes said, before referring to the men as "public servants" and "heroes." The visit was highlighted in Qatar's Gulf Times as "strategic cooperation" between Qatar and the United States.

    The conference took place in June 2019, just a few months after Smotkin's initial filing as a foreign agent for Qatar.

    While AGA conducts several foreign trips, the trips to Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar have a different feeling, according to the lobbyist who participated in the trips.

    "On the Middle Eastern trips there is more interaction with the governments themselves," said the lobbyist. "You go to Spain, nobody is talking to the Spanish government. You go to England, nobody is talking to the English government. But when you're going to the Middle East, there's overlay, and all of a sudden the government is involved."

    AGA earned scrutiny over the summer after it was reported that the embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton went with the group to China, where he was hosted by the Chinese Communist Party.

    Brnovich, Connors, and Ford did not respond to requests for comment on their trips to Qatar, and whether their statements on ethics disclosures were accurate. Neither Smotkin nor other representatives of Qatar responded to requests for comment.


    Crooks, the Reyes consultant, says the attorney general didn't see any overt corruption on his Qatar trips, but was prepared to deal with it.

    "Nobody offered him a Ferrari," Crooks said. "He understood what the situation was, he understood who he was with. He understands how this stuff works."