The Anti-Defamation League has hired the lobbying firm Ballard Partners — which has close relationships with the incoming Trump administration — to assist with its work on antisemitism policy.

The move is a sign of the ADL’s preparations for the incoming GOP administration. The deal was first reported by Punchbowl News.

The ADL has had a rocky relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, most recently accusing him of invoking antisemitic tropes during the 2024 campaign when he suggested Jews “would have a lot to do with that” if he lost the election; ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in September that comments by Trump would “likely will spark more hostility and further inflame an already bad situation” for American Jews.

“ADL is a non-partisan organization that has worked with elected officials across the political spectrum for over 100 years to combat antisemitism and all other forms of hate,” ADL’s executive vice president and chief engagement officer, George Selim, said in a statement to Jewish Insider about the deal with Ballard Partners.

“We look forward to working with the incoming administration and with congressional officials across the political spectrum and at all levels of government to protect Jewish communities from hate and discrimination.”

“ADL urges the Trump administration and the 119th Congress to take aggressive measures to combat antisemitism and antizionism on and off campus, to disrupt extremism, and address the global export of hate,” Selim continued.

The ADL has found itself at odds with Trump and his team on various occasions over Trump’s political career, criticizing him repeatedly for antisemitic comments, saying Trump had a “pattern of equivocating on prejudice” in response to Trump’s defensive comments on the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., calling out his ties to antisemitic extremists, opposing his efforts to ban travel from Muslim-majority countries and advocating against immigration policies that separated families at the southern border.

After the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the ADL said Trump should resign or be removed from office, calling him “unfit” and the riot “a culmination of years spent denigrating our democratic institutions, months of delegitimizing the electoral process, and innumerable tweets demonizing his perceived enemies, with zero regard for the consequences of his actions.”

The organization also called for Trump to be banned from social media platforms.

But the ADL has also made overtures to the Trump world, including honoring Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in March 2024 with an award for his diplomatic work in the Middle East on the Abraham Accords. 

ADL also employs two other lobbying firms, according to Punchbowl News.

Ballard Partners is led by Brian Ballard, a fundraiser for Trump, and previously employed his attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi. The firm has previously lobbied for the Qatari and Turkish governments, as well as a host of top corporations.