The man fighting for Ukraine in DC

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

Politics, News, Government

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Even as President Joe Biden has emphasized that the U.S. and NATO do not want to engage with Russia militarily, Congress has pushed the administration to take a hard stance against Russia through unprecedented financial and economic sanctions. In recent years, behind the scenes, lobbyists representing Ukrainian interests pushed for sanctions on the other combustible issue, gas. Tonight, Playbook author Ryan Lizza has dinner in downtown DC with lobbyist Daniel Vajdich, on his strategy, before the war, to help deter Russian aggression and protect Ukraine, and his thoughts on the potential fallout from being burned by lobbyists. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Daniel Vajdich is the president of Yorktown Solutions.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.Carlos Prieto is a producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is the sense that lobbyists don't do anything.
0:05.0	They don't achieve much.
0:07.0	They don't work particularly hard.
0:09.0	They don't understand their countries.
0:11.0	They don't understand their interests.
0:13.0	I see that in Ukraine.
0:15.0	There's no Washington cliche.
0:17.0	If you're not at the table, then you're probably on the menu.
0:20.0	Tonight, I'm here to find out what it's like
0:23.0	for DC lobbyists trying to get a seat.
0:27.0	I'm Ryan Liza. This is Playbook Deep Dye.
0:30.0	All of another Ryan Manhattan, when you get a second?
0:33.0	Yeah.
0:34.0	You mind if I order one of those?
0:35.0	We're at Figgin' Olive, an upscale Mediterranean restaurant
0:38.0	near K-Street between the capital and the White House.
0:41.0	I think it's in your interest for me to have one.
0:43.0	Yeah, exactly. They could have double.
0:45.0	Yeah.
0:46.0	Dan Vitich, who's a regular?
0:48.0	What do you recommend?
0:49.0	I'm going to just keep it light go with the octopus.
	...

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