After President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, foreign agents working on behalf of the Qatari government appear to have shifted their focus to right-wing media, fueling speculation that the terror-linked Gulf state is attempting to win influence among conservatives.
Between January 1, 2024, and election day, just over 10% of communications sent by Qatari foreign agents to the media were directed to conservative outlets or commenters, according to a Washington Examiner review of Department of Justice records. Since Republicans won control of the White House and Congress on election day, the proportion of messages sent by Qatari operatives to conservative outlets and commenters has surged to more than half of their total correspondence with the media.
Perhaps Qatar’s biggest victory in its post-election right-wing media campaign thus far was securing an interview between Tucker Carlson and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in March. The interview, which has raked up nearly six million views across X and YouTube, was friendly, with Carlson praising the country.
Qatar paid top dollar to ensure this interview took place. Foreign Agents Registration Act records show that Lumen8 Advisors LLC, a legal consulting company for which very little public information is available, helped facilitate between Carlson and the Qatari dignitary. The Embassy of the State of Qatar pays Lumen8 Advisors $180,000 per month “to provide media and communication coaching and consulting services.”
“Qatar wants to further cement ties with Trump and allies for many reasons, including to defend itself against Republican attacks for its relationship with Hamas and Iran,” Anna Jacobs, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said of the Carlson interview.
Qatar’s gifting of a $400 million luxury jet to the Department of Defense, which will be transferred to Trump’s presidential library upon his retirement, has spurred intense debate in Washington over foreign influence and ethics. Critics of the president charge that the large gift could endear him to the Qatari cause, shifting American policy in a manner beneficial to the Gulf monarchy. Trump and his allies maintain, however, that since the jet is government property, and because the president says he won’t use it after leaving office, there is no possibility of impropriety.
Carlson was far from Qatar’s only target in its quest to influence conservative media. Established right-of-center outlets like Fox News Digital, Just The News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, and the Washington Examiner were all targeted to varying degrees by Qatari foreign agents in the months following Trump’s election, records show.
It’s impossible to prove definitively based on public records whether or not these agents successfully planted stories at any of these outlets. Some of these publications did, however, publish pro-Qatar stories shortly after receiving pitches from foreign agents.
An employee of Fox News, for instance, received a text message from a foreign agent working for Qatar through the U.S. firm GRV Strategies on February 20 regarding a “story idea on foreign policy.” Three days later, Fox published a piece containing a subheading that reads “Qatar holds the line against Iranian pressure for its $6 billion back,” where the author cited a “source familiar with Qatar’s plans” to report that the small nation is aligned with President Trump’s Middle East strategy.
GRV Strategies, again working on behalf of Qatar, on December 4, 2024, flagged a story to an employee of the New York Post. Again, three days later, the outlet ran a story painting Qatar in a positive light — this time highlighting the role the nation played in hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The New York Post and Fox News did not respond to requests for comment.
GRV Strategies, which also reached out to outlets like Just the News and the Daily Mail, is a natural choice for any foreign power attempting to place stories in conservative media. Its founder and principal, Garrett Ventry, is deeply embedded in Washington’s right-wing circles. Ventry has occupied top-level staffing positions in Republican congressional offices, was a senior adviser at CRC Advisors, one of the top conservative public affairs firms in DC, and is the cofounder of the Washington Reporter, a conservative alternative to email newsletters like those produced by Politico and Punchbowl News. Ventry stepped away from the Washington Reporter after registering as a Qatari lobbyist, reportedly to avoid any appearance of conflicts of interest.
Qatar pays Ventry’s firm $80,000 a month to assist it with media relations, records show.
Trump’s rhetoric on Qatar, alongside some other Republican leaders, has recently shifted in favor of the country. While the president now praises Qatar for its role in helping the United States achieve its strategic priorities, he once railed against it for being a state sponsor of terrorism. Qatar indeed has a history of providing financial support to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, al-Qaida, Hamas, the Nusrah Front, and ISIS.
Some observers have expressed concern over the influence Qatar and other foreign nations may be having on the Trump administration.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi, who formerly lobbied for Qatar, for instance, has announced that the DOJ that enforcement of FARA will be limited to “conduct similar to more traditional espionage.” This grants countries like Qatar greater license to engage in unregistered foreign lobbying, allowing them to influence American policy and media without the public’s knowledge.
The Qatari embassy did not respond to a request for comment.