George Clooney Slams D.C. Lobby Firm for Deal with Genocidal Sudanese Regime

Trump administration deadline for decision to lift sanctions on state sponsor of terror is 6 days away

July 6, 2017 –  George Clooney and John Prendergast have called out powerhouse D.C. lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs for representing the Sudanese government in its campaign to lift U.S. sanctions on Sudan, a government which is on the U.S. state sponsor of terrorism list and whose head of state is wanted for genocide.

Clooney and Prendergast, writing in a TIME op-ed in their capacities as co-founders of the investigative initiative The Sentry, specifically direct a question to former House Speaker John Boehner and former Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux, asking whether they are aware that their lobby firm has taken on such a brutal client. The Trump administration is facing a July 12 deadline to make a decision on whether to terminate the longstanding comprehensive sanctions on Sudan, a process that began during the last days of the Obama administration.  One of the chief duties of Squire Patton Boggs is to help convince the Trump administration to permanently lift those sanctions.

Excerpt from TIME op-ed "An American Lobbying Firm Is Helping Sudan's Vile Regime" by George Clooney and John Prendergast, speaking of Boehner, Lott and Breaux:

“It’s also possible they don’t know that the government of Sudan continues to use starvation as a weapon of war on its own people, still funds militias that murder its own innocent civilians, and continues to loot the country of its natural resources and funnel the wealth of Sudan into the hands of regime leaders through massive corruption.

It’s certainly possible that they don’t remember that these are the exact same people whose systematic attacks led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Darfur just a few years ago. And they probably don't know that the person who is footing the bill at Squire Patton Boggs is President Omar Al Bashir, who cannot enter any country with an extradition treaty with the International Criminal Court because he would be immediately arrested and tried for war crimes at The Hague.

Probably they don’t know that their firm is representing a regime that is consistently at the top of the list of governments that persecute Christians and deny basic freedoms of speech and assembly.

Squire Patton Boggs is a respected firm, and John Boehner, Trent Lott and John Breaux are all honorable men. The question of them working with, and in the service of, such a brutal and vile regime can only be answered by the simplest of terms. Probably, they just don’t know.

But they do now.”

Read the full op-ed by Clooney and Prendergast in TIME: http://eno.ug/2tNFeur

Read Enough Project’s Recent Reports on Sudan:

• The July Deadline Won’t Work: Why the U.S. needs to delay the decision on Sudan sanctions 
• The Missing Track: The case for a new policy framework between the United States and Sudan 

For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Greg Hittelman, +1 310-717-0606, gh@enoughproject.org.

About THE SENTRY
The Sentry is a team of policy analysts, regional experts, and financial forensic investigators that follows the money in order to create consequences for those funding and profiting from genocide or other mass atrocities in Africa, and to build leverage for peace. Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is an initiative of the Enough Project and Not On Our Watch (NOOW), with investigative support from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS). The Sentry currently focuses on the corrupt transnational networks linked to those most responsible for deadly violence in South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and the Central African Republic. Learn more at www.TheSentry.org.

About THE ENOUGH PROJECT
The Enough Project supports peace and an end to mass atrocities in Africa’s deadliest conflict zones. Together with its investigative initiative The Sentry, Enough counters armed groups, violent kleptocratic regimes, and their commercial partners that are sustained and enriched by corruption, criminal activity, and the trafficking of natural resources. By helping to create consequences for the major perpetrators and facilitators of atrocities and corruption, Enough seeks to build leverage in support of peace and good governance. Enough conducts research in conflict zones, engages governments and the private sector on potential policy solutions, and mobilizes public campaigns focused on peace, human rights, and breaking the links between war and illicit profit. Learn more – and join us – at www.EnoughProject.org.