A lobbying firm with ties to top Trump administration officials has signed a contract to represent the leaders of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, agreeing to advance the interests of military commanders who have been accused of brutality and atrocities by human rights groups.
Lobbying disclosure documents published this week show that Ballard Partners recently signed the $2 million services agreement and is “engaging” with Khalifa Hifter, general commander of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces — a hodgepodge of militias once known as the Libyan National Army — and his son Saddam Hifter, chief of staff for the army’s ground forces.
The elder Hifter, 82, a longtime militia commander and former CIA asset who spent years in exilein Virginia, has amassed significant power since the 2011 ouster and killing of former Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, emerging as the de facto leader of large swaths of the country. Hifter has attacked the government in Tripoli — which is recognized by the United Nations and European nations — and is strongly linked to a rival government in Benghazi.
President Donald Trump has long promised to “drain the swamp” of Washington, suggesting he would rid the capital of the influence-peddling and profiteering that is deeply unpopular with voters. But as with previous presidents, well-connected lobbyists and industries have thrived during Trump’s second term.
Ballard Partners declined to comment for this article.
Military forces under Hifter’s command have faced a slew of human rights allegations, from torture to kidnapping.
Hanan Salah, associate director in the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said the group has documented numerous abuses by Hifter’s forces, notably in the detention centers they run.
More broadly, Human Rights Watch has reported that “people who disagree with the Hifter clan have been unlawfully killed, arbitrarily detained, tortured, ill-treated and forcibly displaced” by Hifter, his forces and those associated with them.
Several cases against Hifter brought in the United States for such misdeeds have been dismissed, and at least one is pending. One of Hifter’s attorneys, Paul Kamenar, told The Washington Post that Hifter denies all of the allegations.
Ballard Partners, founded by Republican fundraiser and Trump ally Brian Ballard, has rapidly emerged as one of the most influential lobby shops in Trump’s Washington. Originally based in Florida, the firm — which has formerly employed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi — has more than quadrupled its revenue since Trump’s election to a second term.
The elder Hifter has hired Washington lobbyists before, but the contract with Ballard Partners comes amid recent moves that could signal a potential power shift in Libya. Hifter has given each of his five sons powerful positions in his operation, an apparent effort to cement his family as an ongoing dynasty in the country’s fractious military and political landscape.
Last year, Hifter appointed his youngest son, Saddam, to serve as his deputy, and he is widely seen as his father’s heir apparent.
Since his appointment, the younger Hifter has participated in high-level meetings with several U.S. officials. That includes a meeting in January with Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, and Jeremy Brent, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy to Libya, the embassy confirmed on X.
Salah said Saddam Hifter’s contact with Boulos and other Western government officials is “very problematic.”
“Instead of ensuring that these people are held accountable first for any violations that may have been committed, we’re seeing that they’re being brought in and that they’re being sort of presented as … the future political elite of this country,” she said.
Khalifa Hifter faces a federal lawsuit claiming he “intentionally and deliberately tortured” a plaintiff and killed family members. Wagner Group head Pavel Prigozhin, the son of former Russian mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin, is also named as a defendant in the case in D.C. federal court.
Court records indicate that the plaintiffs have not been able to serve either Hifter or Prigozhin.
Several other cases in the U.S. against Khalifa Hifter have been dismissed. Most recently, in late February, a U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, dismissed a case brought by plaintiffs who claimed that Hifter and his forces wounded or killed the plaintiffs’ relatives in battle.
Kamenar, who assisted Hifter’s defense team in the case, said last month’s ruling, which marked the third dismissal of cases against Hifter, “puts an end to these harassing lawsuits.”
As part of its work, the disclosure forms say, Ballard Partners “will provide government relations and strategic advisory services” to the Libyan Arab Armed Forces. Those services could include “monitoring and analyzing legislative, regulatory, and policy developments within the U.S. that may affect the foreign principal’s interests, and providing advice regarding the U.S. political and regulatory environment.”
The firm’s services may also include communicating with the U.S. executive branch, the documents say.
In his first term, Trump appeared to signal a shift toward greater support for Khalifa Hifter. For years, the U.S. had backed Libya’s Government of National Accord, or GNA, an authority based in Tripoli that is recognized by the U.N. and many Western countries.
But Trump showed an interest in Hifter’s cause, telling him by phone in April 2019 that he “recognized Hifter’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources,” according to a White House statement at the time. It added that “the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.”
The call appeared to rankle Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), a longtime foreign policy hawk and Trump ally, who said at the time that it had an “unnerving” effect on the region.
That November, however, Trump officials urged Hifter to forgo his military incursion, and a senior administration official told The Post that such an attack “would be disastrous.”
A White House official contacted for this article, speaking on background, said the U.S. encourages “all Libyan stakeholders to advance a Libyan-led political process towards unified governance and elections.”
The official added, “We welcome Libyan efforts to integrate Libya’s security forces and urge Libyan leaders to take further steps to expand and institutionalize east-west military coordination and unification.” The Benghazi government and Hifter’s power base are in the country’s east, while Tripoli and the GNA are situated in Libya’s western region.
Ballard Partners, which describes itself as having a deep bench of bipartisan lobbyists, has emerged as one of the highest-profile lobbying shops in Washington during the second Trump presidency. The firm was founded in Florida and had no presence in Washington before Trump was elected in 2016, but it has rapidly expanded its D.C. operations since.
In an interview with “The Deciders” podcast this week, Ballard emphasized that he rarely lobbies Trump directly.
“I think what we can provide [our clients] is access to the entirety of the government, the agency heads and all the bureaucracy — all the things that really drive things,” Ballard said on the podcast. “Eventually, if there’s something that needs a higher review, we try to provide that if possible.”
Ballard’s lobbying team representing the Hifters includes Micah Ketchel, a former Trump State Department official, and former congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida), who nominated Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
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