Kellyanne Conway registers as Ukraine foreign agent amid JD Vance flap

Kellyanne Conway is now a lobbyist for Ukrainian businessman and oligarch Victor Pinchuk’s philanthropic foundation.

Conway registered her $50,000-a-month contract with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation with the Justice Department on Friday, a requirement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Conway will “engage U.S. lawmakers, and experts, and opinion makers, to explain the importance of Ukraine to the rules-based order and the protection of democratic principles,” in addition to “raising awareness” about “Ukrainians’ fight for freedom and the Russian illegal war of aggression,” according to the contract, which started on July 25 and will expire a week after November’s election.

Conway will also encourage stakeholders to attend the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine from Sept. 13-14

Conway did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s inquiries, though the contract stipulates she cannot comment on it without the foundation’s approval.

Pinchuk, who derives his wealth from an investing and financial services firm, as well as his pipe, wheel, and steel-producing company and media properties, has well-established ties to former President Donald Trump, donating $150,000 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2015 before Trump appeared in a video for the Yalta European Strategy meeting that year.

Conway, who was a campaign and White House aide to Trump, denied a report this week that she was the source of negative stories regarding Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump’s vice presidential nominee, who has been contending with criticism of a statement in 2021 he made claiming Democrats were “a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives.” During Trump’s veepstakes, Conway had advocated for the likes of Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), with Rubio, a high-profile member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, espousing more pro-Ukraine policy positions than Vance.

“When it comes to concerned people questioning the vetting or selection of J.D. Vance, the calls are coming in, not going out,” Conway told the Bulwark this week. “I’m not calling them and saying this is bad. People are asking me. They’re not just asking me. They’re asking lots of people.”

Vance shares Trump’s America First approach to foreign policy, telling the Republican National Convention last month, “We will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace.”

“No more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer,” he said.