Navigators Global’s lobbying income fell for a third straight quarter as Citgo and Anthropic joined its roster

By Owen Castellane

WASHINGTON — Navigators Global, the bipartisan lobbying shop whose roster runs from the private-prison operator GEO Group to National Public Radio, reported $2.31 million in federal lobbying income for the third quarter of 2026. That is its lowest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2025 and the third straight quarterly decline, according to an Inquisitor Data review of the firm’s disclosure reports.

The firm’s 48 third-quarter reports, posted Oct. 21 and 22, also show how the business has changed. Four clients ended their engagements during the quarter. Several of its biggest accounts from a year ago have disappeared from its filings. Its newest major clients are companies at the center of two of Washington’s sharpest current fights: Citgo Petroleum, whose parent company is being sold in a court-run auction, and Anthropic, the artificial-intelligence developer that is challenging the Pentagon’s decision to label it a supply-chain risk.

The Washington Inquisitor built the figures below from the Lobbying Disclosure Act database. The review used the latest report or amendment for each client in each quarter from the first quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026. A methodology note appears at the end.

Seven quarters of reported income

Reported income peaked at $2.81 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. It has since fallen to $2.57 million, then $2.50 million, then $2.31 million. That last figure is 18 percent below the peak and 15 percent below the $2.71 million the firm reported a year earlier. The number of clients filing reports fell from 53 to 48 over the same 12 months.

Lobbying-firm revenue moves for many reasons, including clients that pay for one-time pushes and engagements that move between quarters. The filings do not explain the decline, and a lower total is not itself a sign of trouble at any firm. The Inquisitor has asked Navigators about the figures; any response will be added.

The biggest accounts

The firm’s ten largest clients account for about 37 percent of its third-quarter income, and the top five for about 23 percent. Most large accounts held steady from a year earlier. The GEO Group again reported $160,000, the firm’s largest client. The Washington Inquisitor reported Thursday on GEO’s lobbying in the quarter before Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought three of its detention centers. CSI Aviation, BuildStrong America, Daikin U.S. and Occidental Petroleum also reported the same amounts as in the third quarter of 2025.

The largest reduction among continuing clients was at National Public Radio. NPR’s report shows $70,000 in income, down from $110,000 in both the second quarter and the third quarter of 2025. The report lists work on “public broadcasting in the Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations process” and the Next Generation Warning System, an emergency-alert grant program. ArcelorMittal Liberia, a client that Navigators represents through the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, reported $140,000 a year ago. In the third quarter it filed a no-activity report.

Who arrived

Citgo Petroleum, the Houston-based refiner, is the firm’s largest new account and its second-largest client overall. Navigators registered for it in April, with an effective date of March 20. Citgo’s third-quarter report shows $120,000 in income for “general issues as they relate to development and production of energy resources.” It lists contacts with the House, the Senate and the State Department. The lobbyists named are Cesar Conda, a former chief of staff to then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now the secretary of state, along with Philmore Anderson, James Carter, James Pitts and Nicholas Sadoski.

Citgo’s ultimate parent is Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. A federal judge in Delaware approved the sale of Citgo’s parent, PDV Holding, to Amber Energy, an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management, for $5.9 billion last November. The sale has not closed. It needs Treasury Department approval, and a federal appeals court in Philadelphia heard challenges to it on Wednesday, Hydrocarbon Processing reported. The lobbying report does not say whether the sale, or the license Amber needs, was among the issues discussed with State Department officials.

Anthropic registered with Navigators in March, effective Feb. 11. It reported $60,000 in both the second and third quarters. Its third-quarter report covers “artificial intelligence policy, including issues related to AI safety, national security, development, and acceptable use.” It also cites the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. That same month, February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a supply-chain risk, DefenseScoop reported. That followed a dispute over the Pentagon’s demand to use commercial AI models for “all lawful use cases.” A federal judge in San Francisco later ruled for Anthropic. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 for the Pentagon in a parallel case, and former officials are now urging that court to rehear it. Anthropic’s Navigators report lists contacts only with the House and Senate.

The other new accounts are smaller. Rainbow Energy Center, a North Dakota coal-plant owner, reported $60,000 for “energy regulation and standards.” Trellix Public Sector, a cybersecurity firm, reported $50,000. The National Institute of Building Sciences reported $20,000. Fortinet, which registered in February, reported no income for the third quarter after $50,000 in the second.

Who left

Four clients filed termination reports with their third-quarter filings. They are StoryCorps, the oral-history nonprofit that lobbied on Library of Congress funding; Global Shield, a catastrophic-risk advocacy group; the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; and JFD North America, whose reports cite “maritime and underwater defense capabilities” and the defense bill.

The larger change came over the full year. Seven clients that each paid at least $40,000 in the third quarter of 2025 filed no third-quarter report this year. The biggest was the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, the Yemeni conglomerate, which reported $150,000 a year ago. Others were the precious-metals retailer Goldco, Delta Air Lines and Donohoe Commercial Real Estate. Together, the seven accounted for $480,000 in quarterly income a year ago, more than the year-over-year decline of $400,000. The 41 clients that filed in both third quarters reported $2.17 million a year ago and $2.00 million now.

The bench

Navigators’ filings list about a dozen lobbyists. Most are former senior congressional aides from both parties, joined by a smaller group of former executive-branch officials. Sarah (Beatty) Rogers and Ryan Berger are each listed on more than half of the firm’s third-quarter reports. Christopher Cox, a former deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs, works on the GEO, Anthropic, Constellis and CSI Aviation accounts, among others.

The federal agencies named most often in the reports are the Department of Homeland Security (7 reports), the Defense Department (6), FEMA (6), the Commerce Department (5) and the Executive Office of the President (5). The House and Senate appear on nearly every report. Budget and appropriations was the most common issue code, listed on 14 reports, followed by defense on 11.

What the records do not show

Lobbying Disclosure Act reports show income in round figures, the issues lobbied, the chambers and agencies contacted and the lobbyists involved. They do not show which officials a lobbyist met, what was asked for or whether it was granted. Nothing in the filings reviewed suggests improper conduct by Navigators or its clients. Former officials’ covered positions are disclosed because the law requires it, not because their work is improper.

Methodology

The Washington Inquisitor pulled every LD-2 report filed by Navigators Global LLC (registrant ID 85071) for the first quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026 from the LDA database’s public API early Friday. Where a client had both an original report and an amendment for a quarter, the most recent filing was used. Income reported as less than $5,000, or in no-activity reports, was counted as zero. Subcontract engagements in which Navigators is paid through another firm are counted under the client named in Navigators’ own filings. Totals reflect reports available as of early Friday; any later filings or amendments could change them.

Who was asked

The House Clerk’s office said that under Section 8(c) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act, neither the Secretary of the Senate nor the Clerk of the House has general audit or investigative authority, and that investigative inquiries go to the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

The Washington Inquisitor is seeking comment from Navigators Global, Citgo Petroleum, Anthropic, National Public Radio, the Senate Office of Public Records and the House Clerk’s lobbying disclosure office, which administer the disclosure system. The Clerk’s office responded; its comment is included above. This story will be updated with any other replies.

Update, Oct. 23, 2026: This story has been updated with a response from the Office of the Clerk of the House.

This is a premium Washington Inquisitor investigation.