Scandal-Plagued Lobbyists Tell Scandal-Plagued Airline: Come Fly With Us
Mercury Public Affairs offered to use its “very valuable” resources to to help a European aerospace giant do damage control following a corruption scandal.
Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters
Just weeks after a prominent lobbying firm officially acknowledged its role in a foreign-influence campaign spearheaded by Donald Trump’s now-imprisoned campaign chairman, the firm pitched European aerospace giant Airbus on a plan to get the company out from under its own withering corruption scandal.
In a May 2017 letter to Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders, Kieran Mahoney, the chief executive of Mercury Public Affairs, hawked its extensive political connections in an effort to convince Airbus to enlist its services.
“I am aware of the unfortunate challenges facing you and your company concerning various compliance issues, and I sincerely hope that these matters are addressed quickly and resolved to your complete satisfaction,” Mahoney wrote. At the time, Airbus was facing French and British investigations into potential fraud and bribery in its sale of jetliners.