Reports in the Politico and New York Times on December 7, 2016, disclosed that former US Senator Bob Dole, acting as a foreign agent for the government of Taiwan, worked behind the scenes over the past six months to establish high-level contact between Taiwanese officials and President-elect Donald J. Trump’s staff, an outreach effort that culminated last week in an unorthodox telephone call between Mr. Trump and Taiwan’s president. According to disclosure documents filed last week with the US Justice Department, Bob Dole’s firm, Alston & Bird, received US$ 140,000 from May to October for the work. Among the meetings that Dole set up, were a meeting between Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., Stanley Kao, and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a key Trump adviser and recently Trump's choice for US Attorney General and a meeting between Taiwanese diplomats and the Trump transition team. Taiwan spends more than $170,000 a month ($2 million a year) on a fleet of outside lobbyists led by former lawmakers. In addition to Alston & Bird, Taiwan pays the firms of former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle, former Republican Senator Don Nickles, former Florida Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. The law and lobbying firm Crowell & Moring is also on retainer.