The Russia Inquiry Ended a Democratic Lobbyist’s Career. He Wants It Back.

Tony Podesta turned to art dealing after becoming ensnared in the Trump-Russia scandal. With his friends running Washington, he is eying a return to lobbying.

WASHINGTON — The collapse of Tony Podesta’s $42-million-a-year lobbying and public relations firm in 2017 amid a federal investigation shook K Street and rendered him toxic — a rare Democratic victim of the Trump-era scandals. But that was only the beginning of his troubles. Mr. Podesta, long an outsized character in the influence industry and Democratic fund-raising, turned to his enormous collection of modern art for solace and income. But when the pandemic sent the art market reeling, he sold the penthouse condo in Washington he had been using to show and sell his collection, and secured a loan from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program for struggling small businesses.