Um, it's just a "sponsorship," not a shakedown... MAGA foreign affairs group selling access to the State Department
*Crossposting from General Discussion forum*
Two weeks ago, the Ben Franklin Fellowship held its annual reception dinner. The BFF is a semi-secretive club of right-wing foreign affairs hands who want to MAGA-ize U.S. foreign policy and who have very close ties to the State Department.
The BFF's dinner invitation solicited monetary "sponsorships" at levels ranging from $1K-$35K.
It also hinted at certain benefits a sponsor might see: it mentioned the attendance of “State Department officials” twice and the State Department five times; and it also promised "White House officials" would be attending.
And it seems to have solicited those sponsorships from entities doing business with and before the State Department.
It's all a gross pay to play scheme. And here were some of the entities that paid to play:
--Trewon Technologies. It has a 5-year, $100M contract with State that will need to be re-upped every year by State Department officials.
--Unlock Aid. A member of its Board works for Zipline, a company which just received a $150M grant from State. Zipline will be be paid out in milestone payments which will have to be approved by State Department officials.
--The Westlake Foundation. This is the family charity of the President of Amplify Federal, an IT subcontractor that is doing millions of dollars of business with the State Department. The contract of its prime is overseen by State Department officials.
--Mercury Public Affairs. It is a big lobbying firm with clients that include foreign governments and other foreign interests that want to influence U.S. foreign policy - which, obviously, is executed by State Department officials.
Shocking that these four would want the BFF's promised access to "State Department officials."
You can read our full take here. Includes more names and details.
Meanwhile, let's just hope that State's acquisitions bureaus, inspectors general, and ethics offices get word and take action.
https://ktb2025.substack.com/p/the-franklin-mint