Key facts
- Turkey's defense ministry hired Ballard Partners for a $2.4 million, year-long lobbying contract.
- The firm, led by Brian Ballard, has close ties to Donald Trump.
- The lobbying effort aims to facilitate Turkey's return to the F-35 fighter jet program.
- Ballard Partners previously represented Turkey in 2017, focusing on the Halkbank sanctions case.
- The lobbying team includes former Congressman Robert Wexler and ex-Trump NSC official Thomas Boodry.
Turkey has engaged Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, in a new effort to rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program. The Turkish Ministry of National Defence signed a year-long contract worth $2.4 million with the firm, which will receive $200,000 per month for government relations, strategic consulting, and advocacy services.
Ballard Partners, led by Brian Ballard, a prominent Florida Republican fundraiser and Trump campaign associate, has a history of working for Turkey. In 2017, the firm secured a $1.5 million contract that reportedly focused on the sanctions-evasion case against Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank, charges which were later dropped by the Trump administration's Justice Department.
The current contract's focus on the defense ministry highlights Ankara's objective to be reinstated in the F-35 program, from which it was removed in 2019 following its acquisition of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems. Turkey is reportedly considering selling the S-400 system to a third country, potentially the United Arab Emirates, as a means to persuade Washington to lift sanctions.
The lobbying team assembled by Ballard Partners includes notable figures such as former Democratic congressman Robert Wexler, who co-founded the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkey Relations, and Thomas Boodry, a former special assistant to Trump and senior director for legislative affairs at the National Security Council. Other members include Syl Lukis, a senior partner at Ballard Partners, and former Trump administration officials like White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who have past affiliations with the firm.