Misplaced Pages

#857142

29-557: BGR may refer to: Organizations [ edit ] BGR Group , the US lobbying firm co-founded by Haley Barbour Boy Genius Report , a technology weblog Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources), a Federal Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany Places [ edit ] Bangor International Airport ,

58-838: A CIA analyst, in 1988, Volker joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in the United States Foreign Service . While in the Foreign Service, he served in various assignments overseas including London and Brussels , and the US Embassy in Budapest (1994–1997). Volker was special assistant to the United States special envoy for Bosnia negotiations, Richard Holbrooke . Volker served as

87-591: A Washington -based lobbying firm and investment bank , where he currently serves as a managing director in the firm's international group. He then became executive director of Arizona State University 's McCain Institute for International Leadership when it was launched in 2012. He resigned in 2019. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies since September 2009, and

116-542: A whistleblower complaint had been submitted to Michael K. Atkinson , the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community , which he found to be credible and a matter of "urgent concern". Subsequently, claims were advanced by various chairmen of U.S. House committees that Kurt Volker, while acting in his official capacity as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, had been told by

145-446: A client following the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. BGR was being paid $ 80,000 monthly for "public relations and media management services". Chairman Ed Rogers had been notified by The Washington Post (Khashoggi's employer) that if BGR continued to do business with Saudi Arabia, the paper would no longer run his column. Since 2019, BGR has lobbied on behalf of the government of Hong Kong . This article about

174-467: A generic comment about investigations," which Volker and others found "inappropriate." He had previously said that he was not aware of any link between investigations and a White House visit. On November 21, 2019, David Holmes , who serves as head of political affairs in the US Embassy in Ukraine, described Volker, as well as Sondland and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry as "The Three Amigos" who ran

203-416: A joint civil-military public airport west of the city of Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, United States by IATA airport code Bulgaria , by ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code Science and technology [ edit ] BGR (subpixels) , blue, green, red, an RGB display pixel layout Boy Genius Report , a weblog that specializes in technology and consumer gadgets Bulletin of Glaciological Research ,

232-489: A legislative fellow on the staff of Senator John McCain from 1997 to 1998. In 1998, he became first secretary of the US mission to NATO, and in 1999 he was sent to deputy director of NATO Secretary-General George Robertson's private office, serving in that position until 2001. He then became acting director for European and Eurasian Affairs for the National Security Council . In that capacity he

261-497: A peer-reviewed scientific journal Other uses [ edit ] Bob Graham Round , a 24-hour fell-running challenge in the Lake District, England See also [ edit ] GBR (disambiguation) RGB (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title BGR . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

290-555: A political organization is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kurt Volker Kurt Douglas Volker (born December 27, 1964) is an American diplomat who served as George W. Bush 's last U.S. Ambassador to NATO . Later he served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership and in a volunteer capacity as Donald J. Trump 's U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation on September 27, 2019. Kurt Volker

319-659: A senior advisor at the Atlantic Council since October 2009. Volker is currently listed as a trustee at the CG Funds Trust, and a member of the board of trustees at The American College of the Mediterranean (ACM), an American-style degree-granting institution in Aix-en-Provence , France. As an undergraduate, he was enrolled at ACM's study abroad institute, IAU College . He is also a member of

SECTION 10

#1732772904858

348-514: A stand-off regarding whether the new acting DNI would share the complaint with Congress. On September 26, 2019, the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified text of this whistleblower complaint regarding the interactions between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . In this document, Volker, along with US Ambassador to

377-583: Is very close to President Zelensky. I suggest we schedule a call together on Monday -- maybe 10am or 11am Washington time? Kurt". NBC News has reported, in regard to the Volker text that Giuliani allegedly received, "Whether Volker was acting on orders from Trump is unclear, and the State Department hasn't said why Volker made the introduction, other than that the Ukrainian aide requested it. But

406-834: The Vladimir Putin regime and Russian oligarchs . In 2016, BGR worked for Alfa-Bank and hired Mandiant to support Alfa-Bank. In 2021, BGR Group received $ 600,000 from LetterOne , an investment company associated with the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia. BGR has lobbied on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2016, BGR Group signed a contract worth $ 500,000 to provide "public relations and media management services for The Center [for Studies and Media Affairs at The Saudi Royal Court], which includes both traditional and social media forums". BGR dropped Saudi Arabia as

435-588: The European Union, Gordon Sondland , were described as having "provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the request that the President had made of Mr. Zelensky". That same day Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani posted on Twitter a screenshot that purported to be a text message from Volker to Giuliani, stating, "Mr. Mayor -- really enjoyed breakfast this morning. As discussed, connecting you here with Andrey Yermak , who

464-464: The White House "to intercede with President Zelensky" about investigations regarding Joe Biden and Paul Manafort . Volker met with Zelensky the day after President Trump spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president, a call which would later reportedly result in a whistleblower complaint. Two days after Volker's meeting, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats resigned, resulting in

493-869: The board of directors at The Hungary Initiatives Foundation . In addition, Volker is a member of the Atlantic Partnership . Ukrainian media reported in June 2021 that Kurt Volker represents US investors that co-founded American University Kyiv in partnership with Arizona State University. On July 7, 2017, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appointed Ambassador Kurt Volker as the US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations. Volker accompanied Tillerson on his trip to Ukraine two days later. On September 27, 2019, Volker resigned from this official, yet volunteer, position. In mid-September 2019, reports began to surface suggesting that

522-447: The company after his election as governor of Mississippi in 2004. The New Republic , however, received a copy of the blind trust he set up, which revealed shares in the parent company that owned BGR at the time. TNR reporters stated they observed Barbour entering the DC offices of BGR in June 2007. Bloomberg reported that Barbour was set to receive $ 300,000 per year from the trust. Several of

551-509: The date on the screenshot of the purported text message from Volker to Giuliani is July 19, six days earlier. On September 27, 2019, Volker resigned hours after congressional Democrats announced he would be called to provide a deposition . Volker was interviewed in a closed session of the House committees leading the Trump impeachment inquiry on October 3, 2019, and his prepared statement

580-684: The firm was paid $ 13.7 million for lobbying and its three largest clients were the Republic of India , Ukraine , Chevron Corp. , and the State of Kazakhstan . In 2014, BGR supported Republican senator Thad Cochran , while he fought a tight primary election race against Tea Party candidate, Chris McDaniel . In April 2015, the Government of South Korea retained BGR for public relations and image building. Since 2015, BGR has worked for American Ethane . BGR has worked for numerous Russian firms to

609-490: The firm's revenue had declined after Obama's election as clients perceived it would lose influence. The firm employs various former political figures including Kurt Volker , Jeffrey Birnbaum , and Gov. Haley Barbour . In 2019, Republican politician Sean Duffy started to work for the firm. In 2001, BGR represented Microsoft in its antitrust battle with the U.S. Department of Justice and Fortune Magazine ranked it Washington's most-influential lobbying firm. In 2013

SECTION 20

#1732772904858

638-583: The firms involved in cleanup of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi were also clients of BGR. Barbour still retained the trust, which regulatory filings revealed had grown to a market value of $ 3.3 million by 2008/2009. He returned to the firm full time in 2012. The firm rebranded from Barbour, Griffith & Rogers to BGR Group in the early years of the Barack Obama administration because it wanted to portray itself as bipartisan. According to Rogers,

667-615: The introduction ultimately led to a meeting between Yermak and Giuliani in Spain that the whistleblower wrote was a 'direct follow-up' to Trump's call." In the White House memorandum of the July 25 telephone call between the two presidents, President Zelensky is quoted as saying, "I will personally tell you that one of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine." Notably,

696-409: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BGR&oldid=1244125765 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing German-language text Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages BGR Group The firm

725-460: The private sector in 2009, becoming an independent director at The Wall Street Fund Inc, where he worked until 2012. He was a member of the board of directors at Capital Guardian Funds Trust beginning in 2013. Volker was also an independent director at Evercore Wealth Management Macro Opportunity Fund until 2012. Volker served as a senior advisor at McLarty Associates, a global consulting firm from 2010 to 2011. In 2011, he joined BGR Group ,

754-605: Was born in 1964 in Hatboro, Pennsylvania , to Benjamin and Thelma (Rowdon) Volker. After graduating from Hatboro-Horsham Senior High School , Volker graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in International Affairs in 1984. He was awarded an M.A. in International Relations from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in 1987. After a short tenure as

783-589: Was founded in 1991 by Haley Barbour and Ed Rogers, who had worked with each other in the administration of Ronald Reagan. Lanny Griffith joined the following year, and the firm was named Barbour Griffith & Rogers. The firm had close ties to the Republican political establishment and by 1998 had been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington. Barbour publicly stated that he had divested himself of his stake in

812-556: Was in charge of US preparations for 2004 Istanbul summit of NATO members and the 2002 Prague summit . In July 2005, Volker became the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs , serving in that position until he was appointed United States Permanent Representative to NATO in July 2008 by President George W. Bush . Volker served as Ambassador in that position from July 2, 2008, to May 15, 2009. Volker went into

841-532: Was made public on October 4, 2019. The Washington Post reported that he asserted he had warned Giuliani that he (Giulani) was receiving untrustworthy information about the Bidens from Ukrainian political figures. On November 19, 2019, Volker testified before the U.S. House of Representatives during a public hearing, during which he corrected or reversed statements made in his closed hearing, regarding mention of investigations, stating instead that Sondland "made

#857142