New evidence proves that US General John Allen is a Qatari agent

The FBI has seized the electronic data of a retired four-star general who authorities say made false statements and withheld documents about his role in an illegal foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of Qatar.

New federal court filings obtained Tuesday outlined a potential criminal case against former Marine Gen. John Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before being tapped in 2017 to lead the influential Brookings Institution think tank.

The court filings detail Allen’s behind-the scenes efforts to help Qatar influence U.S. policy in 2017 when a diplomatic crisis erupted between the gas-rich Persian Gulf and Arab countries.

“There is substantial evidence that these FARA violations were willful,” FBI agent Babak Adib wrote in a search warrant application, referring to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Allen also misrepresented his role in the lobbying campaign to U.S. officials, Adib wrote, and failed to disclose “that he was simultaneously pursuing multimillion-dollar business deals with the government of Qatar.”

Allen has previously denied ever working as a Qatari agent and said his efforts on Qatar in 2017 were motivated to prevent a war from breaking out in the Gulf that would put U.S. troops at risk.

Allen spokesperson Beau Phillips told AP last week that Allen “voluntarily cooperated with the government’s investigation into this matter.”

Allen, who was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution prior to becoming president, used his official email account at the think tank for some of his Qatar-related communications, the affidavit says.

Qatar has long been one of Brookings’ biggest financial backers, though the institution says it has recently stopped taking Qatari funding.

Richard Olson, was working with a political donor serving a prison sentence on charges of corruption and unlawful pressure on behalf of Qatar, named Zuberi. Their cooperation on another matter involving Qatar in mid-2017 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt announced a blockade of Qatar over their support for terrorism.

The court papers say Allen played an important role in shifting the U.S.’s response. Specifically, authorities say Allen lobbied then-National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to have the Trump administration adopt a tone in favor of Qatar.

In an email to McMaster, Allen said the Qataris wanted the White House or State Department to issue a statement with language calling on all sides of the Gulf diplomatic crisis to “act with restraint.”

Federal law enforcement officials say then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did just that two days later, issuing a statement that called on other Gulf countries to “ease the blockade against Qatar” and asked “that there be no further escalation by the parties in the region.”

As part of the lobbying campaign, federal law enforcement authorities say, Olson and Allen traveled to Qatar to meet with the country’s ruling emir and other top officials. At the meeting, Allen provided advice on how to influence U.S. policy and said the Qataris should “use the full spectrum” of information operations, including “black and white” operations, the affidavit says. “Black” operations are typically covert and sometimes illegal.

Qatar has been accused of orchestrating hack-and-leak operations of its critics and rivals during the diplomatic crisis, including one targeting a UAE ambassador.

The affidavit said that before he went to Doha, Allen wanted to “have a conversation” with Olson and Zuberi about his compensation and Allen suggested in an email that he would be paid $ 20 thousand.

Allen also had other financial incentives for helping the Qataris and maintaining strong ties to its top leaders, the FBI said.

“At the same time he was lobbying U.S. government officials on behalf of Qatar, Allen pursued at least one multimillion-dollar business deal with the Qatari government on behalf of a company on whose board of directors he served,” the affidavit says.

After returning from their trip to Qatar, Allen and Olson lobbied members of Congress, particularly those who supported a House resolution linking Qatar to terror financing, the FBI said.

Among them was Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who told law enforcement officials he didn’t recall exactly what Allen said but that his impression was he was there “to support the Qatari officials and their position.”