re: All in the family
I am aware that Washington is filled to the brim with "facilitators," whose main function is to grease the wheels of government/industry relations. Most of them have past political ties, which they advertise as helpful in this regard. An "in" as it were. There is NO Presidential administration, and few other branches of government, that don't show up in their family trees. Almost all of them operate perfectly legally, and this one is probably no exception.
Their timing just sucks right now, from a purely PR point of view.