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Good morning, Roca Nation. Here are today’s four need-to-know stories:
A small electronic eye implant helped blind patients suffering from geographic atrophy read again after surgery (free)
Amazon’s cloud-computing division experienced a widespread service outage that disrupted major internet-based apps and websites
A New York jury found a French bank liable for more than $20M in damages over its role in providing banking services to Sudan’s government during a period of mass atrocities
The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether federal law can prohibit drug users from owning firearms, reviewing a law used to convict Hunter Biden (free)
By Max Towey
Are you a tech mogul looking to cozy up to the Trump White House? Is your company in need of FTC approval for a merger? Are you the leader of a foreign nation trying to get on Trump’s good side? Better Call Ballard!
That might as well be the ad for Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm of the once-obscure Florida man Brian Ballard. With clients ranging from Palantir to Qatar, Brian Ballard has cemented himself as the top lobbyist in DC for Trump’s second term. In the second quarter of 2025, Ballard Partners raked in over $20M, dethroning Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as the biggest lobbying firm in Washington, DC. That $20M revenue number was five times what Ballard Partners made in Q2 2024.
Ballard’s access to the West Wing is unique, and it doesn’t hurt that two of the top Trump officials are his former employees: Both Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi came out of Ballard’s shop. While that fact has generally flown under the radar (unless you read our March We The 66 piece about it), his name came up this week in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) pressed Bondi about the DoJ’s approval of American Express GBT’s $540M acquisition of CWT: “In the merger that took place between American Express GBT [and CWT]… Brian Ballard, head of the law firm where you worked, was instrumental in lobbying the DOJ to drop that lawsuit [against American Express GBT]… What conversations did you have with Mr. Ballard?”
Bondi responded, “I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety!... How dare you! I am a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity!”
This is just one of many deals that Ballard Partners has been tied to since Trump returned to the White House in January. So in this piece, we investigate: How did, in just a few years, the once-obscure Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard become arguably the most powerful influence-broker in Washington? And what has he influenced? In other words: Why should firms better call Ballard?
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Editor’s Note
So, has Trump drained the swamp or created a new one? What could be done to eliminate the revolving door that characterizes American political power? Let us know by replying to this email.
And in case you’ve missed any, check out our most recent stories here:
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
—Max and Max
