Introduction
For years, members of Congress from both parties have introduced resolutions addressing discrimination and persecution affecting Egypt’s Coptic Christians. Despite bipartisan support, these measures have repeatedly failed to advance. Why?
Part I of this investigation examines one part of the environment in which those resolutions must compete: Egypt’s extensive and well-funded Washington influence operation. Federal lobbying disclosures show that Cairo has spent millions of dollars employing prominent Washington firms and former senior congressional insiders, including former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce. They also reveal sustained efforts by Egypt’s registered lobbyists to cultivate the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus—whose members now include key lawmakers overseeing U.S. policy toward Egypt.
None of this proves that lobbying determined the fate of any particular resolution. But it reveals a striking imbalance of access. The Egyptian government can deploy professional lobbyists, former congressional leaders and established bipartisan networks to make its case directly to those who shape U.S. policy. The Coptic victims whose rights Congress is being asked to defend have nothing remotely comparable. Part I examines how that system of access works. Part II will examine what happened when repeated congressional efforts on Coptic rights entered that system.
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Part-I: Paid Lobbyists, Political Access, and the Friends of Egypt Caucus
1. Egypt’s Washington Operation
Royce operates inside a much larger influence infrastructure. Coptic Solidarity’s review of federal disclosure records identified 13 firms and agents representing Egypt between late 2013 and early 2025, conducting more than 5,500 reported political activities and receiving approximately $18.8 million from Cairo. The records showed repeated outreach to congressional offices, federal agencies, media organizations, think tanks and other institutions concerning U.S. aid, regional policy and Egypt’s portrayal of its own human-rights and religious-freedom record.[3]
Brownstein became Egypt’s most active recent Washington representative, reporting more than 3,400 political activities after taking the account in 2020, according to Coptic Solidarity’s analysis of FARA records.[3] The firm’s Egypt operation also illustrates the value of Washington’s revolving door. Royce brought decades of relationships on the Republican side, including six years leading Foreign Affairs. Elshami brought a different network. Brownstein’s own biography notes his 25 years in Congress, culminating as chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi, and says he now leverages “bicameral, bipartisan relationships” while identifying political “pressure points” and activating influential legislators for clients.[4] Egypt therefore did not simply purchase expertise about Washington. It purchased Washington insiders who already knew the people it needed to reach.
2. The Friends of Egypt Caucus
One Congressional institution increasingly appearing in this lobbying activity is the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus. The caucus predates Brownstein’s 2020 contract with Egypt. House Administration records show that the Friends of Egypt Caucus was formally approved on May 23, 2014, initially under Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez.[5] Its leadership has changed repeatedly while its fundamental purpose—building and maintaining the U.S.-Egypt relationship—has continued.
Today, official House records identify Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) as the caucus’s bipartisan co-chairs.[6] The caucus has no independent power to pass legislation or direct a congressional committee, but that does not mean it is without influence. It creates an organized network inside Congress centered specifically on relations with Egypt—facilitating meetings, policy discussions and engagement with Egyptian officials. That access is visible throughout the caucus’s history.
In January 2016, then-co-chairs Rohrabacher and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard asked House Speaker Paul Ryan to invite President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to address a joint meeting of Congress. Their letter praised Sisi’s leadership, calling his advocacy of tolerance and respect for people of all religions a major contribution to regional reconciliation and stability.[7] Such language is important because promoting Egypt as a model of religious tolerance has become a recurring theme of Cairo’s public diplomacy in Washington.
The caucus has also provided direct access to Egypt’s president. In December 2022, then-co-chairs Diaz-Balart and Dutch Ruppersberger, joined by nine other members of Congress, met Sisi in Washington. Their congressional statement described Egypt as a valued partner in peace, counterterrorism and global security and expressed commitment to strengthening the relationship.[8]
Egypt’s presidency described the meeting in even more expansive terms. According to the Egyptian government’s account, members of the Friends of Egypt Caucus expressed appreciation for Egypt’s role under Sisi in combating extremism, “rectifying the religious discourse,” and establishing values including “freedom of belief, tolerance and acceptance of the other.”[9]
That religious-freedom narrative extends beyond the caucus itself and has become a recurring component of Egypt’s broader Washington advocacy.
A very recent example came on May 28, 2026, when Egyptian Ambassador Motaz Zahran published a Washington Times op-ed titled “Egypt’s religious freedom tradition an asset to America, the world.” Zahran portrayed Egypt and the United States as sharing a similar commitment to religious pluralism and argued that President Sisi had made Egypt a regional model of tolerance. Six days later, Brownstein filed the article with the Justice Department as FARA “Informational Materials” on behalf of Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[10][11]
The episode provides a clear example of Cairo’s broader image-management strategy: presenting Egypt to American audiences not merely as improving religious freedom, but as sharing the same basic commitment to religious liberty as the United States. At the same time, independent U.S. and international religious-freedom reporting has continued to document serious restrictions and discrimination affecting Egyptian Christians and other religious minorities, directly contradicting this narrative.
Coptic Solidarity’s analysis of FARA records found that image management—including repeated claims that Cairo was improving human rights and religious freedom—has been one of the identifiable objectives of Egypt’s lobbying campaigns alongside preservation of U.S. aid and support for Egyptian regional-policy positions.[3]
There is nothing inherently improper about a Congressional caucus advocating a strong relationship with Egypt. The more revealing question is why Egypt’s paid foreign agents became so interested in cultivating this particular Congressional institution.
3. Brownstein Turns to the Egypt Caucus
The answer appears in Brownstein’s own FARA disclosures. During 2025, Brownstein reported repeated activity concerning the Friends of Egypt Caucus on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt.[12] The contacts were not simply mass emails. They involved members of Congress and senior congressional staff.
On March 26, 2025, Royce spoke directly by telephone with Rep. Jared Moskowitz. Brownstein reported the subject as “U.S.-Egypt Relations.” The following day, Royce and Brownstein colleague Zachary Marshall contacted Moskowitz’s deputy chief of staff, Clare Plassche, seeking a meeting. By April 1, Brownstein reported correspondence with Moskowitz’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff specifically described as a “Request for a meeting re Egypt Caucus.”
On April 24, Royce and Brownstein colleague Douglas Maguire met with Moskowitz’s chief and deputy chiefs of staff. Brownstein listed the purpose simply as “Egypt Caucus,” followed by a message on April 28 titled “Follow-Up Egypt Caucus.” On April 30, Royce emailed Rep. Lois Frankel concerning the “Egypt Caucus,” with follow-up on May 1. Then, on May 5, Brownstein reported a meeting between Royce, Zachary Marshall and Moskowitz Deputy Chief of Staff Clare Plassche. Its disclosed purpose was unusually explicit: “Discuss US-Egypt Relations and the Friends of Egypt Caucus.”[12] The activity continued. Brownstein’s filings record additional Egypt Caucus contacts in June, including communications with Congressional offices about the caucus while Royce continued working on Egypt’s behalf.[12]
These records matter for what they establish—and for what they do not. They do not establish that Moskowitz, Frankel, or another member acted at Egypt’s direction. They do not establish a quid pro quo, nor do they prove that any Congressional appointment or policy position resulted from Brownstein lobbying. But they establish something that requires no speculation:
Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid professional lobbyists—including a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee—to cultivate relationships surrounding a congressional caucus specifically devoted to Egypt. And one of the principal lobbyists doing that work was Ed Royce.
4. The Revolving-Door Advantage
Royce’s value to Egypt is inseparable from his 26 years in Congress and six years chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Those years produced relationships with legislators, congressional staff, diplomats and foreign officials, along with detailed knowledge of how Congress operates and which offices matter.[2]
After Royce left Congress in January 2019, Federal law imposed a one-year post-employment lobbying restriction on seeking official action from members or employees of Congress on behalf of others, as well as separate restrictions concerning representing, aiding or advising foreign entities for purposes of influencing U.S. federal officials.[13] Brownstein registered Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a foreign principal on November 9, 2020, after that statutory period had expired, with Royce registered as one of the personnel working on the account.[1][14] The arrangement was legal, but it illustrates the broader tension created by Washington’s revolving door: relationships and institutional knowledge accumulated through public service can later become valuable assets for private clients—including foreign governments. Public service creates the political capital. Private lobbying makes it saleable.
5. The Caucus Moves Closer to the Center of Egypt Policy
The Friends of Egypt Caucus now sits at an increasingly important intersection of Congressional relationship-building and actual authority over Egypt policy. Its current co-chairs are Diaz-Balart and Moskowitz.[6] Rep. Mike Lawler, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, publicly lists himself as a member of the Friends of Egypt Caucus.[15]
And on August 25, 2026, House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats announced that Moskowitz would become Ranking Member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, succeeding Brad Sherman. Moskowitz had previously served as Ranking Member of the Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee.[16] There is no evidence that Brownstein’s earlier lobbying had anything to do with that appointment. But the institutional overlap deserves attention.
The Republican chairman of the subcommittee responsible for Egypt is a Friends of Egypt Caucus member. The Democratic ranking member is the caucus’s co-chair. And Egypt’s registered lobbyists had already spent months working directly with that caucus and Moskowitz’s office. That does not answer the question of influence, but it does make the question unavoidable.
6. Access Is the Product
Campaign contributions attract attention because they can be counted easily and money is a universal influencer. But they may not be the most important part of foreign influence in Washington. The more valuable commodity is often access.
Egypt can communicate with the United States through its embassy, as every government can. But it can also pay one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying firms. That firm can assign a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to the account. That former chairman can call members he once served with, contact chiefs of staff, prepare meetings with Egyptian delegations, work Congressional committees and cultivate the Friends of Egypt Caucus. Every step can be legal. Every contact can be disclosed. And the cumulative result can still create a profound imbalance in democratic representation.
An Egyptian Christian whose church has been closed can hardly hire a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A family seeking the return of a disappeared daughter cannot retain a bipartisan team of former congressional officials. An American constituent concerned about religious freedom in Egypt may write an email, make a telephone call, or ask for a meeting. Yet, the Egyptian government can do all of those things—and then add professional access purchased from people whose value was largely created by years inside the U.S. government.
That is why the central question is not whether a particular lobbyist bought a particular vote. It is whether the United States has built a system in which publicly accumulated political capital can be converted too easily into a private asset for foreign governments.
The Friends of Egypt Caucus demonstrates how that access can become institutional rather than episodic. Ed Royce demonstrates how relationships created by public service can become commercially valuable afterward. And Brownstein’s FARA disclosures show that Cairo has been willing to pay to use both.
The next question is what happens when those networks intersect with Congressional power over legislation—and why repeated bipartisan resolutions addressing the rights of Egypt’s Coptic Christians have struggled to move beyond committee.
That is the subject of Part II.
Sources and Endnotes
[1] U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act filing, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Exhibit A-B, November 9, 2020. The filing identifies Egypt’s Foreign Ministry as the foreign principal. The attached engagement letter is addressed by Ed Royce to Ambassador Motaz Zahran; states that Royce and Nadeam Elshami would supervise the account; specifies a $65,000 monthly retainer; requires annual travel by the senior team to Egypt; and is signed by Royce and the Egyptian ambassador.
DOJ FARA filing — November 9, 2020
[2] Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, “Ed Royce.” Brownstein describes Royce as a former HFAC chairman with “unparalleled relationships” with U.S. officials and sovereign leaders and explains how he leverages those relationships for clients.
Brownstein — Ed Royce biography
[3] Mark Basta, Coptic Solidarity, “Cairo’s Covert Power in Washington: An Analysis of the Egyptian Lobby in the US since 2014,” June 2025. The analysis of FARA records found approximately $18.8 million in Egyptian lobbying contracts involving 13 firms/agents and more than 5,500 political activities; Brownstein accounted for more than 3,400 activities after 2020.
Coptic Solidarity — Full report
[4] Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, “Nadeam A. Elshami.” Brownstein describes Elshami’s 25-year congressional career, service as Pelosi’s chief of staff, bipartisan relationships and approach to activating influential legislators for clients.
Brownstein — Nadeam Elshami biography
[5] U.S. House Committee on House Administration, 113th Congress Congressional Member Organizations. Official House records list the Friends of Egypt Caucus as approved May 23, 2014, with Dana Rohrabacher and Loretta Sanchez as co-chairs.
[6] U.S. House Committee on House Administration, 119th Congress Congressional Member Organizations. Current House records list Mario Diaz-Balart and Jared Moskowitz as co-chairs of the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus.
[7] Congressional Record, January 8, 2016. Rohrabacher entered into the Congressional Record the letter he and Tulsi Gabbard sent to Speaker Paul Ryan requesting that Sisi address a joint meeting of Congress and praising his leadership and rhetoric on religious tolerance.
[8] Office of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, “Co-Chairs and Members of the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus Meet with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi,” December 14, 2022.
Diaz-Balart — Friends of Egypt Caucus meeting with Sisi
[9] Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt, “President El-Sisi Meets Members of the Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus,” December 14, 2022. Egypt’s official account says participating members praised Cairo’s efforts in combating extremism, reforming religious discourse and promoting freedom of belief, tolerance and acceptance.
Egyptian Presidency — December 14, 2022 meeting
[10] Motaz Zahran, “Egypt’s religious freedom tradition an asset to America, the world,” The Washington Times, May 28, 2026. Zahran portrayed Egypt and the United States as sharing a commitment to religious pluralism and presented President Sisi’s policies as evidence that Egypt had become a regional model of religious tolerance. A copy of the published article was subsequently filed with the Department of Justice under Brownstein’s FARA registration for Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
DOJ FARA copy of Washington Times op-ed
[11] U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act filing, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, June 3, 2026. Brownstein filed Zahran’s Washington Times op-ed as “Informational Materials” on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt under Registration No. 5870.
DOJ FARA — Brownstein Registration No. 5870
[12] U.S. Department of Justice, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Supplemental Statement, September 30, 2025. The filing records Royce’s March 26 phone call with Moskowitz on U.S.-Egypt relations; subsequent meeting requests; repeated April and May “Egypt Caucus” and “Follow-Up Egypt Caucus” contacts; and meetings described as discussing “US-Egypt Relations and the Friends of Egypt Caucus.”
DOJ FARA — Brownstein September 2025 Supplemental Statement
[13] U.S. House Committee on Ethics, post-employment restrictions; 18 U.S.C. § 207. House ethics guidance states that former members are subject to a one-year restriction on communications or appearances before Congress intended to influence official action on behalf of others, as well as a one-year restriction on representing, aiding or advising certain foreign entities in efforts to influence U.S. federal officials.
House Ethics — Post-employment restrictions
[14] U.S. Department of Justice FARA database, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Registration No. 5870. The database records the November 9, 2020 registrations for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, Royce, Elshami and other Brownstein personnel.
DOJ FARA — Brownstein filings
[15] Office of Rep. Mike Lawler, “Committees and Caucuses.” Lawler’s official congressional page lists him as a member of the Friends of Egypt Caucus.
Rep. Lawler — Committees and Caucuses
[16] House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats, “Meeks Welcomes New Members to HFAC,” August 25, 2026. The announcement names Moskowitz Ranking Member of the MENA Subcommittee and states that Jonathan Jackson would succeed him as Ranking Member of Oversight and Intelligence.
HFAC Democrats — August 25, 2026 announcement
