A prominent aide to President Donald Trump has filed as a foreign agent on behalf of a Turkish group previously led by the Turkish businessman central to the guilty plea by Trump’s former national security adviser.
The Turkey-U.S. Business Council has hired Mercury Public Affairs for work related to trade policy, investment activity, public relations and, potentially, government relations. The Mercury team includes Bryan Lanza, who worked as communications director to the Trump transition team and as deputy communications director on his presidential campaign. He joined Mercury last February and became a prominent CNN contributor a few months ago.
Mercury will get $90,000 for the contract, which began earlier this month and ends on May 15, according to a recent Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosure.
The Turkey-U.S. Business Council, also known by the Turkish acrynom TAIK, was chaired by Ekim Alptekin until last year. Alptekin figured into the investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, after Alptekin hired Flynn to investigate exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. As part of his plea deal, Flynn has since admitted to falsifying FARA information related to his dealings with Alptekin. Alptekin remains on TAIK's board of directors.
Mercury submitted its registration "out of an abundance of caution" because of an "indirect linkage" between TAIK and the Turkish Ministry of Finance, according to the filing. Mercury "has been informed" that TAIK is not government-owned or controlled.
