Balch Attempts to Deceive Public on Lobbying Ties
If Balch & Bingham can attempt to deceive the public and Politico.com on the record about their lobbying efforts…we cannot fathom what other shenanigans may be occurring behind closed doors.
In a follow-up letter sent on May 25, 2017 to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, the CDLU outlined how Balch and Bingham appeared to have deceived the public and Politico.com about their continued lobbying for a Russian-linked aerospace company, Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. also known as AAL USA, Inc. based in Huntsville, Alabama.
In addition, the CDLU called on Mueller to launch a criminal investigation and conduct a forensic audit in the alleged diverson of over $3 million of corporate assets during the 2016 presidential election cycle by a U.S. management team that runs Black Hall Aerospace, Inc., a subcontractor of Leidos which has a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. CDLU wrote, “We still do not know why the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not investigated this matter, but as we told you last week we cannot confide in the U.S. Department of Justice because it is saturated with operatives connected to Alabama, Jeff Sessions, and/or Balch & Bingham.”
Politico.com reported that in a statement Balch & Bingham said they “previously represented an American subcontractor to a large U.S. aerospace company, which had a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to maintain Russian-made helicopters purchased by the Obama Administration.” Balch also stated to Politico.com, “We recently updated content on our website to avoid any misunderstanding as to the nature of our representation.”
In their letter to Mueller, CDLU wrote:, “Mr. Mueller, what raised a red flag were the words ‘previously represented.’ Balch & Bingham is still representing Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. On January 20, 2017, Balch filed a fourth quarter lobbying report from 2016 stating they were terminated on December 31, 2016. This April 19th, they filed a first quarter lobbying report showing they were representing them as of January 1, 2017.
“What changed? In previous years, Balch was representing Maynard Cooper & Gale PC on behalf of AAL USA, Inc. and the last quarter of 2016 they were representing Maynard Cooper & Gale PC on behalf of Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. (formerly AAL USA, Inc.). Now Balch is representing Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. directly.
“What is the difference? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Lobbying is lobbying either done directly or as a subcontractor. We are not surprised by this deception. If Balch & Bingham can attempt to deceive the public and Politico.com on the record about their lobbying efforts, as easily as they tried to lie about the CDLU in an open court of law, we cannot fathom what other shenanigans may be occurring behind closed doors. Ironically, Balch said they wanted to ‘avoid any misunderstanding as to the nature of our representation’ when the exact opposite appears to have occurred: confusion and deception.”
