WASHINGTON — With former President Donald Trump and his allies signaling that he will scale back assistance to Ukraine if he retakes the White House, a onetime close adviser has accepted a $50,000-a-month contract to lobby for Ukrainian interests.

Conway Represents Victor Pinchuk

Kellyanne Conway, who served as a top aide to Trump’s 2016 campaign and his presidency, registered Friday to represent Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch who has positioned himself as a leading supporter of his country’s defense against Russian aggression.

In a filing with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Conway indicated that the Ukrainian government would be the “principal beneficiary” of her lobbying on behalf of Pinchuk’s charitable foundation.

The filing signaled that Conway would engage U.S. lawmakers and opinion leaders to explain the importance of Ukraine to the protection of democratic principles, and would try to raise awareness “of Ukrainians’ fight for freedom and the Russian illegal war of aggression.”

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Conway also indicated that she would try to persuade U.S. officials to attend the forthcoming installment of Pinchuk’s annual security conference, scheduled for next month in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Hours after the filing was uploaded to the Justice Department’s FARA website, Conway posted a photograph of herself on social media with Trump in New Jersey, saying that she had “quite the visit today” with him.

Trump spoke by phone last month with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, which was seen as an effort to tamp down concerns about U.S. support for the country during a possible second Trump administration. But Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has been one of Congress’ most vocal opponents of U.S. aid for Ukraine.

Conway had expressed backing for prospective running mates who were more supportive of Ukraine. After Vance was selected, she told The Bulwark, a politics website, that people were expressing concerns to her.

Conway did not respond to a message asking if she discussed Ukraine with the former president. Representatives for Pinchuk also did not respond.

Conway’s contract has drawn grumbling among other Trump allies, who complain that it represented an effort to capitalize on her connection to the former president, according to a former Trump White House official.

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Trump Withdraws Ethics Pledge

At the beginning of his presidency, Trump had required all incoming administration employees to pledge that they would refrain from any foreign representations that prompted FARA disclosure after leaving the government. But Trump rescinded the ethics pledge hours before the end of his term.

Pinchuk has long spent lavishly to curry influence in Washington and Kyiv.

He has made donations to the Clinton Foundation totaling at least $13 million since 2006. And he donated $150,000 to Trump’s now-defunct charitable foundation in September 2015 in exchange for a 20-minute remote video appearance that Trump made to Pinchuk’s security conference that year.

Pinchuk, who made his fortune in the steel industry after the fall of the Soviet Union, became a minor character in the special counsel’s investigation into connections between Trump’s team and Russia. Investigators scrutinized the payment.

Prosecutors also spotlighted Pinchuk’s role in financing a report commissioned by the Russia-aligned government of former President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine that was widely criticized for whitewashing the prosecution and imprisonment of an opposition figure. Pinchuk denied funding the report, though the U.S. consultants who facilitated it testified that he did so.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Kenneth P. Vogel/Maddie McGarvey
c.2024 The New York Times Company