Revealed: Trump team hired spy firm for 'dirty ops' on Iran arms deal
Source: The Guardian
Israeli agency told to find incriminating material on Obama diplomats who negotiated deal with Tehran
Mark Townsend and Julian Borger in Washington
Sat 5 May 2018 16.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 5 May 2018 19.01 EDT
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Aides to Donald Trump, the US president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a dirty ops campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal.
People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to get dirt on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obamas top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.
The extraordinary revelations come days before Trumps 12 May deadline to either scrap or continue to abide by the international deal limiting Irans nuclear programme.
Sources said that officials linked to Trumps team contacted investigators days after Trump visited Tel Aviv a year ago, his first foreign tour as US president. Trump promised Netanyahu that Iran would never have nuclear weapons and suggested that the Iranians thought they could do what they want since negotiating the nuclear deal in 2015. A source with details of the dirty tricks campaign said: The idea was that people acting for Trump would discredit those who were pivotal in selling the deal, making it easier to pull out of it..............................
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/05/trump-team-hired-spy-firm-dirty-ops-iran-nuclear-deal
Grant Stern liked
Malcolm Nance Verified account @MalcolmNance
25m25 minutes ago
Malcolm Nance Retweeted Daniel W. Drezner
What the actual? This is cutting pret
Link to tweet
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Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)suspected a like between Bibi and Trump ,when it came to Iran. Similar phrases,similiar stats,similiar time frame.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Way past time to burn the Rethugs to the grown. When we have to effectively rely on the European press for the hard facts,that tells one just how compromised our Printed Media is .
erronis
(14,955 posts)It seems pretty obvious that Tel Aviv has the technology to infiltrate the US and russian networks and even the secure C&C points.
Perhaps all along Vlad (impaler) Putin was totally innocent and baby Bibi was the source of evil?
OK - I'm totally kidding! It was the Klingons!
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)But Jared, Trumps son in law, his family has been long time friends with Bibi Netanyahu...Im almost 100% sure that is true because I think I read it a while back & then at some point I remember Netanyahu making the comment during a dual press conference that he remembered when Jared was a baby.
Any of that sound familiar to you or anyone else!?!
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Bibi has a Hedge Fund Interest in Boston. He and Mitt Romney work together at one time.
kskiska
(27,041 posts)that he had to give up when Netanyahu visited the Kushner family.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)turbinetree
(24,632 posts)November 2018 cannot get here fast enough
northoftheborder
(7,566 posts)How much worse can it get?
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)There's no bottom to any of his faults or illegal, immoral proclivities. He has no shame and can't be reached.
GETPLANING
(846 posts)by the Trump alliance of criminals. They undermine the national interest to serve their own interests. It's time to start calling it what it is.
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)No bottom to the barrel of sludge, no institution or convention that isnt despoiled by the republicans.
DavidDvorkin
(19,406 posts)As we've all thought so often before.
What's really disgusting is that none of this matters.
calimary
(80,699 posts)I believe the email is sendittorachel.com for any and all intriguing tips.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)He would assassinate Obama if he could.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)riversedge
(69,727 posts)lordsummerisle
(4,649 posts)bucolic_frolic
(42,676 posts)Doubt our own people would do it
paleotn
(17,781 posts)like most of Dumpster's malignant plans, this one must have been royally screwed up. Maybe I'm not as informed as I could be, but honestly, I've never heard of Ben Rhodes or Colin Kahl. Certainly nothing related to the Iran deal. If this was meant to trash their reputations and the Iran deal indirectly, it was an utter failure. Or people in the private intelligence agency decided not to go over to the dark side. At the very least, it's more high crimes and misdemeanors. If a Democratic administration was caught doing shit like this, they'd be finished.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)Link: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/05/observer-view-trump-folly-risking-peace-middle-east
(Snips)
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muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)Link to tweet
). There was a backstory and details. But it sounded to the Kahls like an intelligence operation not altogether uncommon for people in that line of work to see. So they eventually cut off communication.
Then a short time ago, Laura Rozen confirmed with Kahl (
Link to tweet
) that the purported firm which reached out to the Kahls was Reuben Capital Partners. Thats the same name used by Black Cube in the Weinstein operations, first reported in The New Yorker by Ronan Farrow last year.
Black Cube is now vehemently denying it was hired to spy on or run dirty tricks against Rhodes or Kahl. Its not clear to me whether that denial came before or after Rozen uncovered the apparent link between the two cases. The denial seems to be unambiguous. But it is very hard to believe that two separate operations would stumble on the same name for a front operation. Conceivably, two different firms worked in concert with yet another firm that was running this front operation. But thats a very far-fetched hypothetical in contrast to a very straightforward explanations. It was Black Cube working for Weinstein and the Trump aides and theyre simply lying about their involvement.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/stunning-developments-on-trump-black-ops
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,111 posts)riversedge
(69,727 posts)FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)That's why Cheeto is doing this, and not for any other reason.
So what is Netanyahu's motive? I don't see what he gains from killing the Iran deal, unless maybe Putin is working him over too. Does Pootie have kompromat on Netanyahu?