Thursday, April 25, 2024

SolarWinds – Targeted by Massive Cyberattack – Hires Kamala Harris’s Husband’s Former CCP-Linked Law Firm As Lobbyists

SolarWinds, a software vendor used by the U.S. government and recently a target of a massive cyberattack, has retained the former law firm of Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband as its lobbyist.

Emhoff previously served as a Partner in DLA Piper’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice and its Media, Sport, and Entertainment sector. Emhoff, however, departed the firm on November 10th in an effort to “work with the Biden-Harris transition team to develop the portfolio he will focus on to support the work of the administration.”

While Emhoff may have professed to sever ties with DLA Piper, the law firm has continued its government-focused lobbying and legal practice.

On December 16th, 2020, SolarWinds retained DLA Piper’s Washington D.C. office as its lobbyist.

On January 21st – one day after the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris – the firm reported its earnings of $130,000 and continued the contract.

LOBBYING REGISTRATION.

The original filing revealed the company was tasked with lobbying the U.S. House and Senate on the issue of “providing information to Congress regarding the “Sunburst” cyberattack on SolarWinds.”

Among the lobbyists for the account are former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent, who backed Biden in the 2020 election and Tony Samp, a former Senior Policy Advisor to potential Biden administration member Senator Martin Heinrich.

The unearthed filing follows “mounting pressure” for the Biden administration to address the SolarWinds breach per CNN:
Despite announcing a thorough intelligence review of Russian misconduct, President Joe Biden’s administration faces mounting pressure to respond to one of the worst data breaches ever to hit the US government.
“Speaking to reporters Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration would “reserve the right to respond at a time and manner of our choosing to any cyberattack,” but that staffers were only “just getting onto their computers.” She declined to answer a question about whether Biden intended to raise the spying issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the outlet added.
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