Barry Bennett, a longtime Republican political consultant, and his associate Douglas Watts were charged on Tuesday with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Mr. Bennett’s company, Avenue Strategies, signed a contract with Yemen Watch, also known as Yemen Crisis Watch, in September 2017 to help a Middle East country with a campaign against its rival countries, the indictment shows.
Yemen Watch was founded and operated by Mr. Watts and was in operation between September 2017 and January 2018. During that period, Avenue Strategies received payments of about $2.1 million from the middle east country.
However, Mr. Watts and Yemen Watch didn’t register with the Attorney General under the FARA, the Justice Department (DOJ) said.
Avenue Strategies failed to disclose the creation of Yemen Watch in its FARA filing though the company was created under the instruction of Mr. Bennett.
Yemen Watch “engaged in a social media campaign, published opinion articles in newspapers, produced a documentary that was distributed through a national television network, distributed flyers, sent direct mailing to American citizens, and lobbied Congress and former President [Donald] Trump” while it was in operation.
The company also encouraged American citizens to contact lawmakers and urge them to cease supporting Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen, according to the “Statement of Facts” in the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA).
Mr. Bennett and Mr. Watts served as advisors to Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign first but joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign as unpaid advisors afterward. Mr. Bennett was a senior advisor for delegate issues on the Trump campaign and Mr. Watts served as the national executive director of the Committee for American Sovereignty, a pro-Trump super PAC.
The two admitted that they deceived the DOJ about their lobbying activities on behalf of Qatar and reached deferred prosecution agreements with the DOJ.
Under the agreements, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Watts will pay fines of $100,000 and $25,000 respectively.
History of Houthi Rebels
In the late 1990s, the Houthi family in far north Yemen set up a religious revival movement for the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, which had once ruled Yemen but whose northern heartland had become impoverished and marginalized.As friction with the government grew, they fought a series of guerrilla wars with the national army and a brief border conflict with Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
Their power grew during the Yemen war which began in late 2014, when they seized Sanaa. Worried by the growing influence of Shi'ite Iran along its border, Saudi Arabia intervened at the head of a Western-backed coalition in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
The Houthis established control over much of the north and other big population centers, while the internationally recognized government based itself in Aden.
Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid a U.N.-led peace push. Saudi Arabia has been holding talks with the Houthis in a bid to exit the war.
The Houthis waded into the latest conflict as it spread around the Middle East, announcing on Oct. 31 that they had fired drones and missiles at Israel and vowing they would continue to mount attacks “until the Israeli aggression stops.” The Houthis said on Dec. 9 that they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of nationality, and warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.
“If Gaza does not receive the food and medicine it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, will become a target for our armed forces,” the Houthi spokesperson said in a Dec. 9 statement.
The Houthi slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam.”
The Saudi-led coalition has long accused Iran of arming, training, and funding the Houthis.
The United States believes that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is helping to plan and carry out the Houthi missile and drone attacks.
