Allen, a retired four-star general who led US and Allied forces in Afghanistan, wrote in his resignation letter: “As I leave the institution with a heavy heart, I know it’s best for anyone interested at the moment.”
The resignation of Allen of Brookings, a well-known think tank in Washington, comes after a lawsuit leaked last week, which is publicly available on a nonprofit legal research website, shows that the FBI has confiscated Allen’s electronic communications. The FBI’s search warrant, which appears to have been published online by mistake, accuses Allen of violating foreign lobbying laws and failing to provide emails related to lobbying efforts. Alan denied lobbying on behalf of Qatar. The Associated Press was the first to announce the submission.
The lobbying investigation concerns Allen’s communications with Trump administration officials, including former National Security Adviser HP McMaster, after Qatar was diplomatically interrupted by his Gulf rivals in 2017. The investigation is the latest effort of the Ministry of Justice to deal with foreign lobbying violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
In previous statements, spokesman for Alan Bo Phillips said that “the retired general’s efforts with regard to Qatar in 2017 were to protect the interests of the United States and military personnel stationed in Qatar.” Phillips added that Allen “did not receive a fee for his efforts.”
In a statement Sunday, the Brookings Institution thanked Allen for “his contribution to Brookings, including his leadership in the institution’s successful leadership during the pandemic, and for his long service and sacrifice for our country.”
The FBI’s search warrant, dated April, claims that Allen was recruited in 2017 to travel to Qatar as the country struggles with a blockade by other Gulf states that accuse Qatar of supporting of extremism. Allen, who was a senior fellow at Brookings at the time, worked with businessman Imaad Zuberi, who pleaded guilty to violating foreign lobbying laws in 2019, and former US ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates Richard Olson, who pleaded guilty to foreign lobbying fees earlier this month.
The trio traveled to Doha, Qatar, and Allen demanded a “$ 20,000 speaking fee,” according to the full court. Federal investigators noted that it was unclear whether Zubery had paid Allen’s fee or other compensation.
Federal investigators say in the search warrant that Allen received a “fake version of events” in an FBI interview in 2020 about why he was recruited to meet with Qatari officials. Investigators also accused Alan of failing to deliver subpoena emails related to his work in Qatar.
The order also alleges that Alan, Olson and Zubery appear to have violated foreign lobbying laws by trying to “influence US government officials on behalf of Qatar” without registering with FARA. Federal investigators say there is “substantial evidence that these violations of FARA were intentional.”
The search warrant includes emails sent by Allen from his Brookings email to McMaster in June 2017 stating that Qatar was seeking the White House or the State Department to send a signal calling for a peaceful solution to the diplomatic crisis. Federal investigators wrote in the search warrant that McMaster said in a volunteer interview that Allen “did not reveal to him that he had been asked by Zuberi and Olson, who were involved in a lobbying and public campaign on behalf of Qatar.”
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