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HOW QATAR BOUGHT AMERICA

Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels

Sun Jan 04 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Keeping It Real with Jillian Michaels"

Episode: HOW QATAR BOUGHT AMERICA

Date: January 4, 2026
Host: Jillian Michaels
Guest: Freddie Block (Investigative Journalist, The Free Press)

Overview:

In this eye-opening episode, Jillian Michaels sits down with investigative journalist Freddie Block to unravel how Qatar, a tiny nation with outsized wealth and ambition, has spent decades entrenching itself into American institutions. Block and Michaels delve deep into Qatar’s multi-billion dollar influence campaigns in politics, education, media, and beyond, questioning the efficacy and transparency of U.S. laws meant to track and curb foreign influence. The conversation is direct and provocative, addressing the complexity, scale, and ramifications of these efforts—and the surprising lack of public discussion about them.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Qatar’s Playbook: The Tools of Influence

Soft Power & "Black Box" Spending
- Qatar employs think tank funding, university endowments, and media partnerships to shape perceptions and influence policy, much of which is not tracked by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
- “It’s a form of soft power, but influencing think tanks... is that actually a type of lobbying? Is that an influence campaign?” — Freddie Block [08:56]
- $9 million tracked to U.S. think tanks in 5 years; real amount likely higher due to untraceable donations.
Laws & Loopholes: The Limits of FARA
- FARA, intended to expose foreign influence, only tracks above-board activity. Contributions to think tanks, universities, and NGOs often fall outside its scope.
- “It hasn’t been updated in a really long time… enforcement is pretty weak.” — Freddie Block [05:22]

2. Money Trail: Who Spends What?

Staggering Sums by the Gulf States
- Qatar: $23.4 billion on U.S. lobbying, compared to $1.8 billion by Israel (all-time totals).
- UAE: $31 billion; Saudi Arabia: $110 billion (all-time lobbying) [07:47]
- “It’s pretty astounding.” — Freddie Block [07:48]
Education’s Price: University Endowments
- Qatar is the largest foreign contributor to U.S. universities since 1986 ($6.3 billion, surpassing China’s $5.6 billion) [25:28].
- Many funds support U.S. satellite campuses in Doha (e.g., Northwestern, Georgetown) [25:28].

3. Influence in Government & Politics

Targeting Administrations
- Qatar seeks to build connections “on both sides of the aisle,” tailoring its approach to both Republican and Democratic power-brokers [12:15].
- Trump inner circle: Extensive Qatari relationships—Donald Trump Jr. (Doha trips, golf courses), Susie Wiles (former Mercury Public Affairs, Qatar’s lobby), and special envoy Steve Wyckoff (whose son negotiates personal deals while in Doha) [12:15–14:30].
- “Critics could say it’s like America First policy, but on a Qatari jet.” — Block [14:30]
Controversial Lobbying Successes
- Qatar lobbyists played a key role in killing HR 2712, a bill to sanction Hamas supporters, to protect Qatari interests and American aerospace jobs [69:56].
State-level Focus: The South Carolina Case Study
- Heavy Qatari investment aligns with attention to lawmakers like Lindsey Graham, Joe Wilson; connections to local industry (Barzan Aeronautical, sister-city programs) [62:39].
- “You start to see in FARA records...millions of dollars.” — Block [63:11]

4. Shaping K–12 and University Curriculum

Qatar Foundation International in U.S. Schools
- Funding brings Qatari-developed materials and cultural programming to U.S. public schools.
- Block’s investigation began when a NYC classroom displayed a Middle East map omitting Israel—funded by Qatar Foundation International [21:47].
- “That was inaccurate… Israel’s a country, it exists.” — Block [21:47]
Academic Compromise: Speech & Values
- U.S. university campuses in Doha accept restrictions on speech, debate, and gender issues, conflicting with their purported missions. Example: Georgetown’s Doha campus canceled a debate (“Is God a Woman?”) due to blasphemy laws [34:08].
- Agreements at Northwestern’s Doha campus restricted criticism of Qatar even for the U.S. home campus [34:08].

5. Media, Journalism & Narrative Control

Al Jazeera’s Pervasive Reach
- Qatar’s state media, Al Jazeera, remains influential in shaping youth opinions on the Middle East through its English-language reporting and via platforms like Instagram and TikTok [28:54].
- “Most of the people I went to college with…when they post about Gaza, it’s an Al Jazeera article.” — Block [28:54]
Targeted Media Investments
- $50 million funneled to Newsmax reportedly softened negative coverage ahead of the 2022 World Cup and labor controversies [39:33].
- Washington Post columns by slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi were reportedly shaped with help from a Qatar Foundation-linked staffer [39:33–41:07].
Journalist Cultivation & Influencer “Hospitality”
- Qatar invites journalists, influencers, and political insiders (of both parties) on all-expenses-paid trips to Doha for events and conferences; organizers include key lobbyists [46:02].
- “Sometimes it was direct payments for speaking at events… luxury trips.” — Block [46:02]

6. Think Tanks & The Policy Feedback Loop

Qatari Money, American Policy
- Think tanks in the U.S.—including the highly influential Brookings Institution—regularly receive millions in funding from Qatar and other Gulf states, directly impacting the knowledge consumed by policymakers and the public [09:23].
- “They do craft policy…they are influencing our policy.” — Block [58:27]

7. National Security & the “Revolving Door”

Officials (& Generals) on the Qatar Payroll
- Former ambassadors and high-ranking military officials (e.g. Richard Olson, Timmy Davis, General John Allen) moved to jobs or contracts funded by Qatar soon after public service [52:38, 54:33].
- “The State Department rules are vague enough that this seems kind of icky… but it’s not necessarily not allowed.” — Block [54:33]
Critical Quote:
- “No foreign country should have access to any information that a four-star general may have.” — Jillian Michaels [57:11]

8. Why So Little Public Outcry?

Selective Scrutiny
- Michaels repeatedly critiques the U.S. public’s and media’s near-singular focus on Israel’s influence while ignoring the immense and often more opaque Qatari and Gulf intervention [10:30, 26:22, 67:31].
- “If you’re going to cry foul, let’s unilaterally cry foul.” — Jillian Michaels [10:30]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Qatar’s outsized spending:
“For Qatar, it’s $23.4 billion…compared to Israel’s $1.8 billion…It’s pretty astounding.” — Freddie Block [07:48]
On FARA’s limitations:
“FARA only goes so far…you could skirt the law via think tanks or education without registering.” — Freddie Block [05:22]
On social media’s warped discourse:
“You are far more likely to see pro-Palestinian content on TikTok than you are pro-Israeli…these platforms have the power to alter algorithms.” — Freddie Block [28:54]
On disclosure double standards:
“If I take money to do an ad or a post…#paidad…You’re in serious trouble if you don’t disclose. But nobody has to disclose this.” — Jillian Michaels [67:31]
On U.S. campus free speech in Qatar:
“The debate was canceled because blasphemy is illegal in Qatar…so that is extremely troubling.” — Freddie Block [34:08]
On why the U.S. doesn’t require Al Jazeera to register as foreign agent:
“It’s easy to kill efforts if you have the right people and access…you can lobby against policies you don’t like for your country.” — Freddie Block [49:58]
On public ignorance:
“I don’t think the average bear knows any of this and the ways in which their perception of the world is being manipulated.” — Jillian Michaels [59:41]

Important Timestamps

Opening Context & Introduction: [00:02]
What is FARA? [03:59]
Soft Power Loopholes & Think Tanks: [08:13]
The Money Breakdown (Qatar, Israel, Gulf States): [07:47–08:13]
Media Influence—Al Jazeera, Newsmax, Social Media: [28:54–31:09, 39:30–43:09]
K–12 and University Funding: [21:47, 25:28]
High-profile Political Influence & Trump Ties: [12:15–15:24]
Case Study: South Carolina Lawmakers: [62:23–67:31]
Revolving Door: Ambassadors & Generals: [52:23–57:11]
Think Tanks as Policy Drivers: [58:27]
Legislative Response & Policy Solutions: [71:41]

Policy Solutions & Individual Safeguards

Policy Changes Needed
- Modernize FARA and Section 117 of the Higher Education Act to enhance disclosure, close exemptions, and make reporting more frequent and more detailed [71:41].
- “Disclosure acts are helpful, but haven’t been updated in a really long time.” — Block [73:53]
- Lower reporting thresholds for university gifts (as started by Trump-era reforms).
What Can Individuals Do?
- Demand transparency from media and educational institutions about funding sources.
- Be skeptical; seek out diverse information sources; question consensus narratives.
- Track and read reporting on foreign influence—recommendation to follow coverage at The Free Press (thefp.com).

Conclusion

Jillian Michaels and Freddie Block illuminate the breadth and complexity of Qatari influence in the U.S.—from quiet inroads in education to aggressive lobbying and media partnerships that have shaped public discourse and policy. The episode calls for increased awareness, transparency, and equal scrutiny of all foreign actors, not just those already in the American spotlight. It ends with an urgent appeal: update the laws, demand disclosure, and stay vigilant, because unchecked influence does not come without consequences.

Resources:

Read Freddie Block’s reporting: thefp.com
For more on Omid Malik: Search Free Press articles by Gabe Kaminsky

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Transcript

Jillian Michaels (0:02)

A country smaller than Connecticut, with a population smaller than Chicago, has spent decades buying influence in the United States, and not with tanks or missiles, but with endowments, media partnerships, lobbying firms, educational initiatives. They fund American universities. They sponsor curriculum. They host journalists and politicians at luxury conferences. They operate the most powerful media outlet in the Arab world. And at the same time, they've harbored extremist leaders, funded radical movements, and played both sides of America's wars in the Middle East. Now, if China were doing this, we would call it infiltration. If Russia were doing it, it would be called propaganda. But when Qatar does it, it's called cultural exchange. Joining me today is investigative journalist Freddie Block from the Free Press, who's been on the forefront of exposing who Qatar is influencing in America, how, why, and at what cost. Here we go. Keeping It Real with Jillian Michaels. This one is a bit of a mind bender. I wasn't paying attention to this at all until Trump got a half a billion dollar plane. And I thought, oh, God, you know, the optics of this are bad. And he's like, I'm not keeping it. It's going in the library. But everybody started talking about Qatar, and I subscribed to the Free Press. I got this article in my inbox, how Qatar bought America. And I'd never heard any. Anything like what I read in that article before. And it was deeply alarming. And I think it was so alarming that it just tucked it in the back of my head, because I thought, like, I don't even know how to talk about this. I'm going to be called Islamophobic if I do talk about this. But as we've now seen an increase in terror attacks and nobody wants to talk about it, I can't help but wonder, like, is part of this Qatari influence? Am I being paranoid? And then you've got Tucker who's like, I'm buying land in Qatar. I'm just thinking, okay, what the heck is going on? So before we go down this rabbit hole, I want to establish the reality that, okay, correct me if I'm wrong. So all foreign countries, allies, and foes seek influence in America. I mean, all of them do it. So what is the prize that they're after here? Like, what's the point of that?

Freddie Block (2:40)

So any country that is trying to gain influence in the United States, obviously, at the end of the day, they. They want something in return. They want to be able to call in favors whenever it suits them, or they want to be able to lobby for specific policies that would benefit them or lobby against policies that would hurt them. And as you said, every country in the world tries to do this in the United States because American policy could potentially affect them. But what's unique about Qatar and many of the Gulf nations is how much money they put into it compared to other countries. And that's really where our intrigue in digging into Qatari lobbying started. But obviously with Qatar as well, what makes it an interesting story to look into is the fact that this is a nation that, if you look just at the plain view, they are a non NATO ally of the United States. It's officially declared that way, but they're also one of the harbors of some of the worst terrorists in the world.

Freddie Block (12:15)

So you're right. I mean, everything else that here is somewhat speculative, and I can only base it in what I know, which is where are they investing? And when you look at the way that Qatar's lobbying campaign has worked in the past five years, you see that they're going after politicians and media organizations, for example, that hit. Hit both sides of the aisle in the American public. And they're trying to cater a narrative to both that can appeal to the left and that can appeal to the right, that can appeal to Republicans, that can appeal to Democrats. And so I think ultimately, what Qatar is trying to do and what many countries try to do is bolster its image to the American public. That's one. I think another, though, is that they're trying to gain influence in the Trump administration, and they tried to do so in the Biden administration, too. But Trump's in power right now. Let's look at his inner circle for a second to see how they may have been influenced by Qatar, starting with his son. Donald Trump Jr. Has been in Doha tons of times this year, speaking at the Doha Forum, trying to build Trump golf courses in Doha. Let's look at Susie Wiles, his chief of staff. Susie Wiles used to lead Mercury Public affairs, which is a lobbying firm that used to lobby on behalf of Qatar. Still does, I think. Actually, Pam Bondi who was the lobbyist at Mercury Public affairs lobbying on behalf of Qatar? It was Pam Bondi, the Attorney General. Let's also look at Steve Wyckoff, arguably one of the most influential people in the Middle east today. He's Trump's special envoy to the Middle east, the person negotiating for the release of the Israeli hostages, for the release of the Israeli American hostages when he was in Doha. The. The Wall Street Journal had an amazing story on this. A few months ago when Wyckoff was in Doha negotiating for the release of the last remaining hostages. His son was also in Doha negotiating real estate deals for the family business. So you see just a plethora of conflicts of interest when it comes to Trump's inner circle. And we haven't even mentioned the jet, you know, the $400 billion jet that Trump was going to accept from Doha and convert into Air Force One. It's, you know, I think critics could say it's like America first policy, but on a Qatari jet.

Freddie Block (28:54)

So I think what your question makes me think about is Al Jazeera. So Al Jazeera is a Qatari state run media organization that is, is arguably the most influential media organization in the Arab world, hands down. And it's also highly influential, I think, in the United States. I mean, I am, I'm 26 years old and most of the people I went to college with when they post on Instagram about what's going on in Gaza, it's an Al Jazeera article. And I do think that that's very notable. And I think that, you know, Israel has tried to ban Al Jazeera and some people have said that's a great idea, some people have said that's horrible and an attack on freedom of the press. But ultimately the point of that ban would be to say that this is, you know, Qatari influence in Israel influencing perceptions of what the government's doing in Israel in a, and, you know, they would argue, very unfair way. And so I do think that that is a very, very critical point when we're trying to understand why so many different people in the world view this conflict in the Middle east the way we do. We have to look at what they're reading and what they're watching and where they're getting it from. I'll add another point to that as well, which is TikTok. I mean, we saw, for example, this was presented in Congress, that the TikTok algorithm, the way it works compared to other social media sites is that you are far more likely to see pro Palestinian content on TikTok than you are pro Israeli content. And the same extends that, you know, this is real because the same trend extends for issues related to China. I think you're 153 times more likely to see information about Tiananmen Square on Instagram than you are on TikTok. So you can see how these social media companies have the power to alter these algorithms. And you, you can see the results of that. I mean, we are in a way what we read and consume and that forms and shapes our worldview. And unfortunately, in this age of social media, I think that worldview is very easily manipulated when it comes to holiday gifting.

Jillian Michaels (31:09)

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Freddie Block (34:08)

So I think what that's referring to is the fact that Qatar, unlike the United States, does not have freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion. These are all rights that we enjoy and I think take for granted in the United States. But Qatar simply doesn't have those. In fact, I'll give you an example. So the Georgetown Public Policy School, a couple years ago, I think around 20, 19 students there wanted to host a debate called Is God a Woman? And it was based off of that Ariana Grande song by, you know, God is a Woman. And I think it was like a fun play, but it was supposed to be an interesting, you know, debate about this topic. And the debate was canceled because blasphemy is illegal in Qatar. You can't question God. You can't question whether God is a woman because that's. That's not allowed. That's not legal in Qatar. And so the debate was canceled. And the foundation for Individual Rights and Expression actually ranked the Georgetown Doha campus among the lowest in free expression that year because obviously you couldn't even have a debate on campus. And for those that think of American universities or think about what they should be at least, which is, in my opinion, you know, bastions of free expression, of civil discourse and debate that simply can't exist in Qatar if what the debate is runs counter to what the government allows. So that's one key example. The other that many people will point to is the fact that, again, Northwestern had a journalism school, they have a journalism school in Doha, and the president of Northwestern actually testified in front of Congress earlier this year and admitted that the university did have to. There was a stipulation in the contract regarding criticism of Qatar that extended not just to the Doha campus, but to the American campus as well. And so that for anybody, again, who thinks of universities as, you know, the ultimate place of free expression, of where it should be, that is extremely troubling.

Freddie Block (46:02)

So first on Omid Malik, I recommend all of your listeners go read my colleague Gabe Kaminsky's profile of him in the Free Press, because I think that's the best insight into who he is, what his background is and what his influence is in terms of Tucker. So Tucker, you mentioned went and interviewed the Prime Minister of Qatar. It was actually found out after the fact that some of Qatar's lobbyists were instrumental in setting that up. So that is actually a very clear example of how the lobbying campaign can be successful. They connect you with the right people, they get you in front of the right people and they can get you the platform that you're seeking. And so that seems to be what happened with the Tucker interview, based off of Fair Records. In terms of other journalists in the influence campaign, I'll bring up two examples. The first is a couple years ago the Wall Street Journal had a great story about this and it was about how Qatar was targeting 250 influencers in Trump's inner circle. And they didn't mean influencers like social media influencers, they meant people who can influence Donald Trump. And it was exactly what you described, luxury trips. Sometimes it was direct payments for like speaking at events and things like that. You know, one of the people in the Wall Street Journal article is Alan Dershowitz. He was given, you know, these trips in speaking fees and he came out and said, I had no idea that this was essentially part of a, you know, influence campaign. There's an even more recent example of this though. I mean, truly, just a few weeks ago, there were a group of conservative influencers, people who have very big platforms on like, X especially who were given, you know, trips to Doha. They went and saw the Formula One race. They met with Qatari officials there. And it's unclear who exactly paid for the trip. But afterwards, you know, they're posting online, on Instagram, whatever, oh, this is the most amazing country. We had These great talks. Oh, my gosh, the Formula one race was so great and so many people speculate that the Qatari government was behind paying for those trips.

Freddie Block (65:22)

So that's what some people would say. And then other people would say, well, Hamas is there because the Qatari government is ideologically aligned with, you know, certain elements of the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, which is also the foundation of Hamas's ideology. And that's why they're there. So depends who. Yes, right. But Lindsey Graham was saying. But, yeah, right. And Lindsay Graham was saying, you know, they're. They're there because. For negotiating. And that's what I think he was referencing. But the speech was so notable that it was covered in all sorts of news outlets of people being, like Lindsey Graham says, like, Qatar's major US Friend in speech at Doha Forum or whatever conference. It was in Doha at the time. And I looked into the lobbying records about this speech, and there's a guy, his name is Andrew King. And I don't mean to pick on Andrew King. You know, he's a lobbyist. He's doing his job. But here's what he did. He is the former chief of staff to Lindsey Graham. He was hired as a Qatari lobbyist a few years back. And based off of the records with The Department of Justice. You can see that on October 7th, Andrew King called Lindsey Graham. He had dozens of meetings with Lindsey Graham or Lindsey Graham's team leading up to this speech that Lindsey Graham gave in Doha, including a meeting on the day of the speech, which begs the question, you know, was. Was he in Doha with Lindsey Graham? And none of them responded to my request for comment at the time for more information about what was going on there. But that is, you know, a little bit of insight potentially into, you know, who are the people that Lindsey Graham may be turning to to talk about what's going on in the Middle east to get some insight about Qatar and its, you know, relationship to the United States. Well, it's is potentially this guy who used to work for him that's also now paid tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to lobby on behalf of Qatar. So that's one key example of Lindsey Graham, S.C. but I agree it's worth way more investigation what's going on between Qatar and South Carolina, because there's a lot there.

Jillian Michaels (67:31)

You know, I probably have even said in defense of Trump at times, look at all the money he's getting them to invest in America. It's like, well, Gillian, like, he's investing in Qatar, is investing in South Carolina. Like, this is what you want. They're providing jobs. But it just. There comes a point where you start to wonder, kind of like, as you mentioned, what's the motive for that? What's the quid pro quo? Disclose. If I take money to do an ad or a post, which I generally never post for food products, but let's just say, right, all of a sudden, you see an ad for some sort of energy drink, and I don't disclose it, like, hey, this company paid me to do an ad for this energy drink. Hashtag paid ad. You're in serious trouble, Serious trouble. You know, even our, like, the people that advertise on the podcast, they're like, you gotta. You gotta buy a sweater. Because if you talk about our product and you didn't actually purchase the product and you didn't actually wear the product, we can all get in very big trouble. But nobody has to disclose this. Whereas I think if somebody said to me, hey, listen, Qatar is. There's a duality there. Here's what we're getting out of it. These are the things we need to worry about. These are the things we're being careful of. This is where the line is in the sand. I feel like people would feel far more comfortable and Again, you levy these critiques onto Israel. I want to know what they're asking for. I want to know the influence they have. I want to know who they're paying. I want to know what we're doing on their behalf. Okay, this one is a heck of a lot more money. Heck of a lot more. So what about this one? Qatari lobbyists successfully killed a bill called HR 2712, which was meant to sanction Hamas supporters. And this would have jeopardized billions in U.S. aerospace contracts and thousands of American jobs. So let me just tie that back in for one second. So all of this money that I would have been so happy was going into South Carolina is the cost of that. You're no longer sanctioning Hamas supporters.

Freddie Block (71:41)

Well, I think on the policy level, we talked a bit about different disclosure requirements. Today, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. When I talked about foreign funding, I was actually referring to section 117 of the higher Education act, which requires disclosure of foreign funds. And a lot of people would say, these disclosure acts, they're great. It's important to have them, but they haven't been updated in a really long time. So when I talked about the Farah black box, you know, there are a lot of exemptions for activity that you don't have to register with Farah. If you're doing something for commercial purposes, for example, that is a potential exemption under Farah. And people argue, well, that's just. It makes it so easy to evade any disclosure. And the disclosure requirements, while helpful, aren't that extensive. You know, you have to say who you called and talked to and reached out to and things like that, but you don't have to really disclose necessarily what was being discussed. You don't, oh, maybe you put in a little line, but you really don't have to give that many details. Right? And so there are a lot of people lobbying right now to say, you know what, we need to enhance these disclosure requirements. We need to make the reporting more frequent or we need to make it more detailed, or we need to get rid of some of these exemptions. And again, you know, the federal laws really haven't been updated in decades. And so some people say they work, and some people will argue that they barely work at all. On higher education funding. The Trump administration actually did do something. They made an effort to lower the disclosure requirement. It used to be $250,000. That was the level that a gift had to reach from a foreign country for a university to have to disclose it. And the Trump administration lowered that number, saying that you have to disclose lower gifts. I can't remember what it is off the top of my head, but I think those types of efforts are a step towards transparency. And it's saying, you know, this is still legal. You know, a university like Harvard can accept money from China, they can accept money from Qatar, but they have to disclose it. And people are arguing not only do they have to disclose it, but we think that they should be doing more in. In disclosures.