WASHINGTON — John R. Allen, the retired four-star general who once commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has been placed on administrative leave as president of the Brookings Institution amid a federal investigation into whether he secretly lobbied the government of Qatar, the think tank announced on Wednesday.
The decision was announced in an email by the leaders of the board of trustees of the prestigious left-wing institution. It came a day after DailyExpertNews and The Associated Press revealed that federal prosecutors obtained evidence that General Allen was involved in the lobby, lied to investigators about his role and tried to withhold evidence that was being sought. by a federal subpoena.
“We want to assure you that Brookings is not the subject of this investigation,” the announcement read. “Brookings has a strong policy of prohibiting donors from conducting research activities.”
Prosecutors outlined the secret lobbying plan in an April application for an order to search General Allen’s electronic communications. In the document, prosecutors cited reports by General Allen about his plans to monetize a 2017 initiative to resolve the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its rivals in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
At the height of the crisis in June 2017, General Allen traveled to Doha, the capital of Qatar, with Richard G. Olson, a former US ambassador, and Imaad Zuberi, a businessman with ties to the Middle East. The court document states that General Allen made the trip at Mr Zuberi’s expense and negotiated a payment of $20,000 in what he termed a “speaker’s fee.”
The document cites a statement from General Allen that he hoped to make more money in the future, to “work out a more complete arrangement of a longer-term relationship,” as he put it.
After the trip, in which General Allen met with top Qatari officials, he returned to Washington and lobbied members of Congress and the Trump administration on behalf of Qatar, the document said.
The trip took place after General Allen retired and moved to the Brookings Institution, but before he became president of the think tank.
Mr Zuberi is serving a prison sentence for violating foreign lobbying, campaign finance and tax laws, as well as obstruction of justice.
Beau Phillips, a spokesman for General Allen, called the story in the document “factually inaccurate, incomplete and misleading”.
“General Allen has done nothing inappropriate or illegal, has never acted as an agent of Qatar or any foreign government or principal and has never obstructed justice,” Phillips said in a statement on Wednesday. “Through decades of public service in combat and diplomacy, General Allen has earned an unparalleled, outstanding reputation for honor and integrity.”
Brookings once had a large campus in Doha, and the government of Qatar was a major source of Brookings funding. On Wednesday, a Brookings spokeswoman wrote that in 2019, during General Allen’s term as president, the think tank decided to cut ties with the Doha center and its other campuses abroad.
“This separation has now been completed and the new center, which has no affiliation with Brookings, is called the Middle East Council on Global Affairs,” spokeswoman Andrea Risotto said.
Brookings is currently not receiving any money from Qatar.