Conway will advocate pro-Ukrainian positions to U.S. officials and will be paid $50,000 a month by a Ukrainian businessman.
Kellyanne Conway, a longtime political adviser to former President Donald Trump, has registered as a foreign agent to represent Ukrainian interests in Washington.
Conway was the campaign manager for Trumpâs 2016 presidential campaign and later served in his administration for three years as a âSenior Counselor to the President.â On Aug. 2, Conwayâs consulting firm, KAConsulting,
registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as a representative of Ukrainian
billionaire businessman Victor Pinchukâs personal foundation, for which she will lobby U.S. lawmakers and political leaders.
Conwayâs FARA filing indicates that she will âmake best efforts to convince US lawmakers, experts, and opinion makers to attend the annual meeting of Yalta European Strategy in Kyiv on September 13-14,â referring to an annual conference hosted by Pinchuk to âcreate an international network of support for Ukraine and to strengthen public diplomacy in favor of the country,â according to its
website. Several world leaders,
including Trump, have spoken at previous iterations of the conference.
Pinchukâs foundation has been a leading donor to U.S. philanthropies with political connections,
including the Clinton Global Initiative run by former President Bill Clinton and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, which attracted widespread Republican
criticism for its foreign funding sources.
Conwayâs registration to represent a pro-Ukrainian foreign interest comes at a time of deep skepticism within the Republican Party regarding U.S. support for Ukraine. Trumpâs running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), has vocally opposed more U.S. military aid to Ukraine, as have many populist Republican members of Congress.
âWe are actively endangering our national security by focusing on Ukraine to the exclusion of other priorities,â
wrote Vance in June.
Conwayâs FARA filing indicates that she will âengage US lawmakers, experts, and opinion makers to explain the importance of Ukraine to the rules-based order and the protection of democratic principles,â suggesting she will argue against Vance and othersâ Ukraine-skeptic positions. The filing leaves open the possibility that Conway could lobby Trump himself on the issue.
Trump and Conway appear to have maintained a close relationship despite her not having a formal role in his 2024 campaign. On Aug. 2, she posted on X a
picture of herself and Trump in New Jersey, wearing a blue âMake America Great Againâ hat.
Conwayâs duties will also include providing Pinchuk with an âassessment of the current state of views on Ukraine among US elected officials, candidates, experts, and opinion leaders.â Pinchuk has connections to the Ukrainian government, with his foundationâs philanthropic activities supporting the government. Conwayâs filing indicates that âthe Ukrainian government is the principal beneficiaryâ of her activities.
Conwayâs contract with Pinchukâs foundation will terminate on Nov. 14, nine days after the 2024 election. She will be paid $50,000 a month.
Several high-profile Republican and Democratic-affiliated political operatives and individuals have been retained as foreign agents by Ukrainian interests in recent years. These include former 2016 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was an agent of
Ukraineâs pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich and later pleaded guilty to FARA violations, and
Gordon Sondland, a former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and leading witness in Trumpâs first impeachment.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is also under
congressional scrutiny for his work for Ukrainian interestsâspecifically, the energy company Burismaâwhile his father was vice president. Like Conway, Hunter Biden was also paid
$50,000 per month for serving on the companyâs board.
Conwayâs service in the Trump administration attracted controversy for her media appearances and alleged
violations of the
Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from partisan politics using their official titles. Until 2023, Conway was married for 22 years to lawyer George Conway, a founder of the Lincoln Project and prominent anti-Trump advocate, with the relationship eliciting public scrutiny of her personal life.
KAConsulting and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.