Lobbying battle

Rich from large natural gas reserves, Qatar has lavished at least $24 million on lobbying in Washington since the start of 2017. That compares with a total of $8.5 million Qatar paid in 2015 and 2016 for lobbying, Justice Department filings show.

It has hired people close to Trump. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for example, said he worked for the Qataris on an investigation and visited Doha just weeks before becoming Trump's personal lawyer in April.

Giuliani declined to give details, telling Reuters that he has not spoken to Trump about his Qatar work.

Qatar's opponents have a formidable offensive of their own. The UAE and Saudi Arabia shelled out about $25 million each over the same period and had allies such as Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser also close to Trump.

In May last year, Broidy bankrolled a conference about Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that Egypt and other Doha rivals have accused of terrorism, according to Mark Dubowitz, head of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a think-tank that organized the conference.

It was at this conference that Ed Royce, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, disclosed plans for a bill naming Qatar a sponsor of terrorism. Royce introduced the bill two days after the conference.

Royce's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Qatar "swarmed the Hill" to oppose the bill, including appealing to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, two lobbyists said. The bill has stalled in Congress.

Ryan's office referred questions on the bill to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who did not respond to a request for comment.

"Understandably, the Qataris called in all their lobbyists and favors to try to derail the bill, though the final chapter on these issues has yet to be written," said Broidy, who has sued Qatar for allegedly hacking his emails. Qatar denies his allegations.

When asked by Reuters what, if any, his role was regarding the bill, Broidy said, "I wish the bill was my idea but the reality is it wasn't and I never had anything to do it."

Unlikely allies

Qatar has also reached out to unlikely allies. In January, Qatar's lobbyists flew Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America, first class on Qatar Airways and put him up at the five-star Sheraton Grand Doha Resort for meetings with the country's leaders.

That included a two-hour, one-on-one palace meeting with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Klein said Qatari officials promised to kill an Al Jazeera documentary critical of Israel supporters in the United States, eliminate anti-Semitic books from a Doha book fair, and work to release kidnapped Israelis.

Klein remains critical of Qatar but said in an interview last week that he is encouraged by some steps taken to address his concerns. He said the documentary has not aired and he continues to work with officials on other issues.

Last fall, Trump met Sheikh Tamim on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. A Qatari lobbyist said Doha's message to the United States was they would spend more money on the American base in the country and buy aircraft from Boeing Co .

Within a week of the meeting, state-owned Qatar Airways said it would buy six Boeing aircraft, valued at $2.16 billion. Boeing declined to comment.

Sheikh Tamim met Trump again this April at the White House.

"It took time and resources to replace the blockading states' lies with the truth, including inviting delegations to visit Qatar and investigate the blockade for themselves," said Jassim al-Thani, spokesman for the Qatar embassy in Washington.

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