Reid’s tenure as registered foreign agent faces fresh scrutiny in lieutenant governor bid

On a Monday evening in early September, a mix of Virginia politicos and Washington regulars filed into Butterworth’s, the Capitol Hill newcomer profiled by Washingtonian this spring as “the MAGA crowd’s favorite D.C. restaurant.”

The Sept. 8 fundraiser for Republican lieutenant governor nominee John Reid — according to an invitation reviewed by The Mercury — billed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and several current Qorvis executives, including Chief Executive Officer Matt Lauer, Chief Editorial Officer Samantha Sault and Managing Partner Grace Fenstermaker.

Tickets ranged from $35 for a happy hour to a $2,500 bundle with two dinner and four happy-hour admissions. The Washingtonian piece described Butterworth’s as a conservative social hub that opened just before the 2024 election, part of a shifting power-dining scene now that the old Trump Hotel is gone.

The setting and the hosts put a spotlight on a consequential line on Reid’s resume: his 2011–2014 stint as a partner — and registered foreign agent – at Qorvis, the Washington strategic communications shop whose client list has included foreign governments and politically connected figures abroad.

Qorvis in recent years has described itself as a global advisory firm “standing at the nexus of influence and capital,” with practice areas spanning “international communications,” “geopolitical intelligence & strategy,” and “public diplomacy,” and primary offices in Washington, Geneva and Dubai.

David Leblang, the Randolph Compton professor of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, said Qorvis has a history of representing foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 

“The firm has also worked for others, such as the governments of Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have been criticized for human rights abuses,” he said. 

Reid’s campaign declined to answer nearly 30 detailed questions The Mercury sent about his duties, clients and any Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings during his Qorvis years.

Instead, the campaign supplied a written statement summarizing his tenure. 

“John Reid worked for Qorvis between 2011 and 2014. During that time, Reid worked on strategic communications for Qorvis clients,” the statement read. “Reid’s work at Qorvis consisted largely of public relations with foreign media, and no lobbying activity,” the campaign continued, saying that “as a former journalist,” his role “promoted transparency within the international press corps.”

The campaign also said Reid would, if elected, advocate that “all candidates for statewide office” disclose “their clients and foreign affiliations,” pointing specifically to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger’s past jobs “at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia and Royall and Company.”

Reid’s campaign did not respond to follow-up questions attempting to clarify some of his remarks.

Qorvis offered its own defense of its long-criticized foreign-influence work — and of Reid personally.

In an emailed statement, Sault, the company’s chief editorial officer, said that “John Reid was a respected, thoughtful leader during his tenure at Qorvis and has exemplified hard work and principled service throughout his career,” adding that “three Qorvis partners who have known John for more than a decade contributed personal funds to the September 8 fundraiser.”

The firm, Sault said, “is proud of its 25-year record of trusted client service and commitment to compliance and transparency.”

Why Qorvis’s work draws scrutiny

Founded in 2000 and led by CEO Lauer after a management buyout in late 2022, Qorvis markets itself as a full-spectrum influence and advisory company. Its website further highlights capabilities in lobbying and government relations, as well as crisis and reputation management.

Public records, meanwhile, document substantial foreign-principal work by Qorvis over the years.

The Justice Department’s FARA e-filing system and OpenSecrets’ Foreign Lobby Watch show Qorvis repeatedly reporting representation of the government of Saudi Arabia, among others, with frequent informational materials and exhibit filings in 2018–2019 and beyond.

UVA’s Leblang said that voters concerned about human rights or U.S. complicity in authoritarian PR might see this as “a red flag, questioning if Reid’s experience normalized influence-peddling for repressive governments.” 

Seven years before Reid joined the firm, in December 2004, the FBI searched several Qorvis offices as part of a probe into the firm’s Saudi-related work — a memory that still colors coverage of the company.

The controversy intensified again in 2016–2017, when multiple outlets reported that Saudi-funded efforts — with Qorvis and a network of subcontractors in the mix — recruited U.S. military veterans to lobby against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a law enabling 9/11 families to sue foreign governments.

In her statement, Sault tried to draw a bright line around compliance in this complex space.

“Qorvis complies fully with all Department of Justice requirements, including FARA,” she said. “All required information regarding past or present clients or employees is disclosed in public filings on the DOJ website, as required by law.”

That assertion aligns with the firm’s branded relaunch since the 2022 buyout, which emphasizes  transparency and market-intelligence offerings alongside traditional communications work.

What Reid did — and didn’t do — at Qorvis

Pressed on his personal role, the statement from Reid’s campaign underscores what he says he didn’t do. “Neither Fiji nor Saudi Arabia were ever clients of Reid’s so he cannot speak to those projects.”

The campaign added that his portfolio “consisted largely of public relations with foreign media,” not lobbying.

But that narrow description contrasts with how Reid has characterized his work overseas. 

On a recent episode of The Jeff Katz Show, Reid said his background would help him “bring more business to Virginia,” adding: “Somebody like me who has been a partner in a major government relations firm and cut deals all around the world.”

Reid also addressed a specific allegation circulating that he was tied to Qorvis’s FARA-registered work for Fiji’s military-led government in the early 2010s.

“Out of an abundance of caution, Reid registered under FARA when he was being considered for a Fiji project,” the statement reads, “however, that contract ultimately went to others at the firm and Reid was not involved with the Fiji account in any shape or form.”

The documentary record confirms that Qorvis did FARA-registered work related to Fiji as a foreign principal in that era.

A Lowy Institute for International Policy analysis contemporaneous with Reid’s tenure reported that “the Fiji Government pays Qorvis Communications US$40,000 a month to provide ‘public relations services,’” as the Bainimarama administration attempted to recast its image following the 2006 coup and amid restrictions on civil liberties.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s public system also contains Qorvis supplemental statements and exhibits from the period. Reid’s assertion that he was “considered” but not ultimately assigned — and that he filed “out of an abundance of caution” — could be clarified by short-form filings, engagement letters or time logs, documents the campaign did not provide.

On other accounts, the record shows Qorvis connected to a French lawyer’s representation of Egyptian steel magnate Ahmed Ezz — a Mubarak-era power broker who faced a cascade of graft and money-laundering cases after the 2011 revolution.

Contemporary reporting chronicled Ezz’s prosecutions, including a seven-year sentence for money laundering in 2012.

The Mercury asked Reid whether he worked on any Egypt-related matter and what his tasks were if so; he did not respond to those specific questions.

But Reid has repeatedly described living in the region during and after his Qorvis years. 

On a 2017 episode of The Jeff Katz Show, he said, “for a couple of years I was living in Kuwait and in the Middle East.” And in 2018 remarks at a WRVA “Politics & Pints” event, he said he had “lived in the Middle East, in Kuwait and Dubai and Bahrain during the middle of the Arab Spring,” framing his views as informed by firsthand experience.

As recently as July 2025, while guesting on the John Fredericks Show, he prefaced commentary as “someone who has lived in the Middle East.” 

The Khashoggi murder

The Saudi portfolio has been the most politically radioactive for Washington firms, especially after the Oct. 2, 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — an assassination a U.N. special rapporteur later said the Saudi state bore responsibility for, citing “credible evidence” that warranted further investigation up the chain of command.

In the Oct. 18, 2018, WRVA segment reviewed by The Mercury, Reid urged “holding judgment” on Saudi Arabia as early reports emerged, while criticizing what he called “a very dishonest press corps.”

The Mercury asked Reid if his view changed as evidence mounted, but his campaign did not answer. Instead, Reid reiterated that neither Fiji nor Saudi Arabia were ever his clients, and that his Qorvis work was “public relations with foreign media” rather than lobbying.

“Reid’s role in a FARA-registered firm means he helped shape narratives for foreign interests in the U.S.,” UVA’s Leblang said.

He added that in  today’s climate of foreign election interference concerns — such as Russian or Chinese influence — this “could raise doubts about his judgment or potential conflicts in a high-profile state role like lieutenant governor, who presides over the Senate and acts as a policy tiebreaker.”  

Leblang said that as a  conservative running on “restoring trust” and “defending values,” Reid’s early career, which includes interning for former President Ronald Reagan, “contrasts with mid-career work for regimes antithetical to those ideals.”

At the same time, Leblang cautioned that the Qorvis chapter “was over a decade ago, comprising just three years of Reid’s 30-plus year career,” noting that Reid left to work for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and then moved into Virginia media.

“No scandals or violations are tied to Reid personally,” Leblang said, and “Qorvis’s FARA filings were standard for the industry; lobbying for foreign clients is legal and common in D.C.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.