THE MAN OF THE HOUR: “Jeff Yass, the billionaire Wall Street financier and Republican megadonor who is a major investor in the parent company of TikTok, was also the biggest institutional shareholder of the shell company that recently merged with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company,” The New York Times’ Matthew Goldstein reports. — “A December regulatory filing showed that Mr. Yass’s trading firm, Susquehanna International Group, owned about 2 percent of Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which merged with Trump Media & Technology Group on Friday. That stake, of about 605,000 shares, was worth about $22 million based on Digital World’s last closing share price.” — “It’s unclear if Susquehanna still owns those shares, because big investors disclose their holdings to regulators only periodically. But if it did retain its stake, Mr. Yass’s firm would become one of Trump Media’s larger institutional shareholders when it begins trading this week after the merger.” — Susquehanna told the Times that its “long position is offset by short positions of the same size” in Trump Media, but it’s just the latest connection between Yass — who is so far the biggest disclosed political donor of the 2024 cycle — and Trump, who’s facing financial threats to both his personal business empire and his reelection campaign and who met with Yass recently. KATHY KRANINGER REGISTERS TO LOBBY: Kathy Kraninger, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the last two years of Trump’s presidency, has registered to lobby at the federal level on behalf of the banking trade group she now runs, the Florida Bankers Association. Kraninger resigned as CFPB director shortly after President Joe Biden was sworn into office despite being in the middle of a five-year term, and was named president and chief executive of FBA last year. — On the group’s first-quarter lobbying report, which was filed over the weekend, Kraninger and Gina Rotunno, the group’s vice president of government relations, reported spending less than $5,000 to lobby the House and Senate on issues related to credit unions. The association has pushed for legislation that would require the largest credit unions to pay state and federal income taxes. — The Florida Bankers Association held its annual fly-in in D.C. last week, meeting with members of Florida’s congressional delegation, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, Treasury official Laurie Schaffer and House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Andy Barr (R-Ky.). Kraninger also spoke at the American Bankers Association’s summit, according to the group’s social media accounts. LEO ALLIES NEEDLE HIS INVESTIGATOR: Our Heidi Przybyla is out with a breakdown of how allies of conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo “have mounted a monthslong offensive” against D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who is investigating Leo’s advocacy network. — “Since news of the probe broke last August, the GOP chairs of powerful congressional committees launched their own investigation of Schwalb’s investigation; conservative media wrote articles criticizing Schwalb on unrelated crime issues — based on a social media post from a top Leo lieutenant; and a group of his Republican law enforcement peers sent letters warning Schwalb to stand down.” — “The white-hot pressure campaign targeting Schwalb attests to the growing range of Leo’s influence. Beyond its work in promoting the conservative legal movement, his billion-dollar network of nonprofits has funded conservative media, Republican attorneys general and the campaign funds of leading congressional figures.” MICROSOFT’S GELMAN RETIRING: Microsoft’s top congressional lobbyist Mark Gelman will retire this fall after more than two decades with the tech giant. Gelman, a former Democratic House leadership aide, will be succeeded by another longtime member of Microsoft’s D.C. office, Frank Cavaliere. Cavaliere, who currently leads Senate outreach for Microsoft, will become general manager of congressional affairs beginning in May. ICYMI OVER THE WEEKEND: Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the House China Committee chair who dropped the bombshell last week that he plans to resign from office within the next month, “is taking a job with major defense tech contractor Palantir, multiple people familiar with the matter” told Forbes’ David Jeans and Alex Konrad. — “It is unclear what Gallagher’s title will be at the company, or what his role will entail. The move is a major coup for Palantir, which has been tightening its relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense as its focus on Taiwan increases.” — “Gallagher has worked closely with another China hawk, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission commissioner Jacob Helberg, in recent months as part of an effort to build bipartisan support for a bill banning TikTok from operating in the U.S. while under Chinese ownership. In August, Helberg took a role at Palantir, serving as a senior policy advisor to CEO Alex Karp.”
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