Are 2 Mike Rogers staffers registered agents for Israel?

Claim: Two staffers for Mike Rogers, Michigan's Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, are registered as agents for the Israeli government. Rating: ContextThe claim stems from a report by Drop Site News, an independent investigative journalism organization. Snopes verified the existence of two filings that comply with the Foreign Agent Registration Act of 1938. Those filings confirm that Abigail Ronson and Jesse Stokes, both of whom have worked as strategists for Rogers' campaign, were registered as agents acting on behalf of the state of Israel. It was unclear whether their work as agents for the Israeli government had anything to do with Rogers' campaign. As the U.S. midterm elections approached in November, a rumor spread that two people who worked for the campaign of Michigan's Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Mike Rogers, were registered as foreign agents for the state of Israel. The claim spread on various social media platforms, including Reddit, Facebook and Instagram. On X, one post read, "Two Mike Rogers campaign strategists are lobbyists for Israel, filings show" (archived): Meanwhile, several Snopes readers emailed us to confirm the veracity of the claim. The claim stemmed from a Nov. 1 report by Drop Site News, an independent investigative journalism organization. The reporter who broke the story, Jacqueline Sweet, has also written for several reputable news outlets, including Rolling Stone, Politico and The Guardian. Snopes verified the existence of two filings (archived versions here and here) that comply with the Foreign Agent Registration Act of 1938. The filings confirm that Abigail Ronson and Jesse Stokes, both of whom worked as strategists for Rogers' campaign, were registered as agents acting on behalf of the state of Israel. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's webpage on FARA, a foreign agent is someone who acts in the U.S. on behalf of a "foreign principal": An "agent of a foreign principal" is any person who acts as an agent, representative, employee, or servant, or otherwise acts at the order, request, or under the direction or control of a "foreign principal" This can include "a public relations counsel, publicity agent, information service employee, or political consultant," according to the DOJ website. Foreign principals can include foreign governments, political parties, individuals or business entities. Both Ronson and Stokes are employed at the campaign strategy firm Convergence Media, one of the vendors for Rogers' campaign, according to spending filings on the Federal Election Commission website. However, it was unclear whether their work as agents for the Israeli government had anything to do with Rogers' campaign. We reached out both to the Rogers campaign and to Convergence Media for an explanation. We will update this story should we receive responses. Ronson's and Stokes' ties to the Rogers campaign While Ronson and Stokes were not directly employed by Rogers' campaign, posts on their X accounts confirm both of them were present and close to Rogers at several campaign events. Ronson has posted almost exclusively about the Michigan U.S. Senate race since March. Meanwhile, Stokes barely posted on X during the first quarter of 2026. But on March 20, he started to post consistently, sharing content promoting Rogers or criticizing Democratic candidates during the primary election campaign. Eventually, he focused solely on Rogers' campaign events as well as his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed. When former Democratic candidate Haley Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in the primary election, unexpectedly endorsed Rogers on Nov. 1, Ronson could be seen on television footage showing Rogers and Stevens coming out of a church service: She was the young woman with long hair, white T-shirt and sunglasses, recognizable from her profile picture on the Convergence Media website and on her LinkedIn profile. In another clip that circulated online, she appeared to ask for reporters to ask questions in an orderly manner. Drop Site News referred to Ronson and Stokes as spokespeople for the Rogers campaign. Convergence Media identifies Ronson as a digital communications manager. Snopes verified that Stokes wrote the news release announcing Rogers' run for the Senate, using the page's metadata. What FARA filings say Both Ronson and Stokes are registered as foreign agents who work for the state of Israel through Clock Tower X, Brad Parscale's company (Parscale managed the 2020 campaign of President Donald Trump) and Havas Media Network, the media division of Havas, a France-based advertising and public relations multinational company. The short form FARA statement for Ronson, dated May 18, reads: Registrant [Ronson] shall provide strategic communications, planning, and media services in support of Havas' engagement by the State of Israel to develop and execute a nationwide campaign in the United States to combat anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Stokes appeared in a list of people in answer to the question "During this 6-month reporting period, did any employee or individual working in any capacity, other than in a clerical or secretarial capacity or in a related or similar capacity, begin rendering services to the registrant directly in furtherance ofthe interests of any foreign principal(s)?" (Page 11 of the PDF). Stokes was listed as a subcontractor for Havas Media Network since Oct. 8, 2025. The registrant on that form is Clock Tower X, and the state of Israel and Havas Media Network are listed as principals. Page 4 of the PDF read: Registrant [Clock Tower X] has provided strategic communications, planning, and media services in support of Havas' engagement by the State of Israel to develop and execute a nationwide campaign in the United States to combat anti-Semitism. This effort has involved the creation of websites, including blogs; social media, including videos; and regularly updated content and information. For further reading, Snopes has covered several claims about the Senate campaign in Michigan, including the rumor that Rogers received donations from people mentioned in the files related to the case of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Snopes also investigated whether Israel signed a contract with ChatGPT to push pro-Israel content, which stemmed from a deal involving Havas Media Network and Clock Tower X.