President Joe Biden is considering tapping a lobbyist who represented a brutal African dictator to serve in a crucial diplomatic position.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the Biden administration is in talks with Amos Hochstein to lead its efforts to cut off the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project commissioned by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The project, which is nearing completion, would connect vital oil and gas resources via a pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Before joining the Obama administration in 2011, Hochstein worked for five years at Cassidy and Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm. Hochstein's portfolio included services for Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea and Africa's longest serving dictator. Obiang, a former prison administrator, wrestled power from his uncle in 1979 and ordered the execution of his brother in the process. Under Obiang's leadership, Equatorial Guinea touts a record as one of the world's worst human rights abusers.