Former Sen. Bob Dole played a role in setting up the phone call between President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed News.
Public filings obtained by BuzzFeed News show the Taiwanese representative office paid Dole’s law firm, Alston & Bird LLP, $20,000 a month to advance their interests.
Dole told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that, “It’s fair to say that we may have had some influence.” He also said his firm does work with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. (TECRO) and that they played a role in arranging the call.
Trump’s phone call marked the first public report of a phone call between a U.S. President or President-elect and a Taiwanese leader since 1979 and has angered many officials in China.
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However, none of the documents that BuzzFeed News examined show that TECRO specifically asked Dole to arrange the call with Trump. But, a letter BuzzFeed News examined from Dole to a former top Taiwanese representative in Washington said, “This year, we agree that our activities will continue to focus specially [sic] on assisting you with [your] agenda as it relates to the U.S. Administration and Congress.”
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