As Bob Woodward recounts in his new book, &#8220;Fear,&#8221; the key American players in the astonishing alliance between the state of Israel and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia &#8212;which had hitherto been anything but friendly &#8212; were former Army colonel Derek Harvey and President Trump&#8217;s son-in-law Jared Kushner, both of whom displayed a prescience that eluded former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former national security advisor H.R. McMaster.
As Woodward notes, last February, Harvey, whom Woodward describes as &#8220;one of the premier fact-driven intelligence analysts in the U.S. gov­ernment, &#8221; was appointed director for the Middle East on the National Security Council staff. Harvey had a reputation for farsightedness; before the 9/11 terrorist attacks he wrote a paper asserting Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda network posed a strategic threat to the United States. He again proved his mettle by predicting the strength of the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan after the U.S. invaded.
Harvey informed Kushner that Hezbollah, the Iranian-supported terrorist organization in Lebanon, had mustered over 48,000 full-time mil­itary in Lebanon along with 150,000 rockets, as compared to 2006, when they had 4,500. At the same time, Iran was paying $1 billion a year to Hezbollah to pay its bills.
As Woodward writes, &#8220;Harvey argued there was potential for a catastrophic war, with immense humanitarian, economic and strategic consequences. An Iranian-Israeli conflict would draw in the United States and unhinge efforts to bring regional stability.&#8221; Woodward points out that Harvey was supported by DNI Dan Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo when the case was brought before President Trump, but Defense Secretary James Mattis, Tillerson and McMaster were less supportive.
In the summer, the Israeli ambassador to Washington and its na­tional security advisor invited Harvey to come to Israel; Woodward writes that McMaster refused to give Harvey permission, but would not offer a reason for his refusal. Woodward continues, &#8220;In early July, Harvey arranged to meet with senior intelligence officials from Mossad, military intelligence, and representatives from the Israeli Air Force and Army. McMaster, angry with Harvey, would not let him move forward.&#8221;
Harvey then met with Kushner, who asked what Harvey thought of pushing for Trump to visit Riyadh as his first presidential trip. Harvey agreed it was a good idea, saying, &#8220;It fits perfectly with what we&#8217;re trying to do, to reaffirm our support for the Saudis, our strategic objectives in the re­gion. Our position has deteriorated so much during the Obama years.&#8221;
Kushner informed Harvey he had inside intelligence that the key man in the Saudi hierarchy was the deputy crown prince, 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, the son of the Saudi king, known as MBS, who was the Saudi defense minister.
Woodward writes, &#8220;When McMaster learned of Kushner&#8217;s Saudi summit idea, he asked Harvey nervously, &#8216;Who&#8217;s pushing this? Where&#8217;s it coming from?&#8217; &#8230; McMaster clearly disliked the out-of-channel approach but there was not much he could do about it.&#8221;
Woodward notes that the intelligence community said MBS was not the key; Crown Prince Mo­hammed bin Nayef, 57, known as MBN, was the key figure. They warned appealing to MBS could cause a rift in the Saudi hierarchy.
Woodward writes that Kushner envisioned a summit in the next two months. He describes what happened next:
<blockquote>
In March, McMaster chaired a principals meeting on the possi­bility of a Saudi summit. &#8220;From my experience at Exxon,&#8221; said Secretary of State Tillerson, waving his hand dismissively, &#8220;the Saudis always talk a big game. You go through the dance with them on the negotiations. When it comes time to putting the signature on the page, you can&#8217;t get there.&#8221; En­gagement with MBS should be taken with a grain of salt. The U.S. could work hard on a summit, and in the end have nothing. &#8220;It&#8217;s a bridge too far,&#8221; Mattis said. &#8220;We&#8217;re better off waiting until next year. A new administration should be more careful and prudent.&#8221; Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said there was too much to do in too short a time.
</blockquote>
Kushner argued for the summit, saying, &#8220;I understand this is very ambitious. I understand the concerns. But I think we have a real opportunity here. We have to recognize it. I understand we have to be careful. We need to work this diligently, as if it&#8217;s going to hap­pen. And if it looks like we can&#8217;t get there, we&#8217;ll have plenty of time to shift gears. But this is an opportunity that is there for the seizing.&#8221;
Woodward continues, &#8220;McMaster was still not enthusiastic. Because Kushner wants it, he told Harvey, we need to keep working it. But there&#8217;s not a lot of support for it. We&#8217;ll go through the motions, and then we&#8217;ll kill it at some point.&#8221;
On March 14, Kushner invited MBS to the United States and brought him to the White House to lunch with Trump. Woodward notes, &#8220;Tillerson and Mattis continued to express their doubts. This is too hard, too much work to do, too many questions about the con­tracts.&#8221; But Trump green-lit the summit, which occurred on May 20.
Woodward concludes that Kushner and Harvey proved correct:
<blockquote>
Harvey believed the summit had reset the relationships in a dra­matic way, a home run-sending a strategic message to Iran, the principal adversary. The Saudis, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia) and Israel were united. The Obama approach of straddling was over. The next month Saudi king Salman, at age 81, appointed MBS, age 31, the new crown prince and next in line to lead the Kingdom perhaps for decades to come.
</blockquote>

Woodward Tells Inside Story Of Historic Israel-Saudi Arabia Alliance That’s Fighting Iran

Donald Trump

Israel

James Mattis

Jared Kushner

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

Rex Tillerson

Saudi Arabia

On Thursday, CNN&#8217;s Brian Stelter pushed a conspiracy theory that would make Infowars&#8217; Alex Jones laugh, claiming that President Donald Trump picked his new National Security Advisor today to distract from CNN&#8217;s interview with a playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Trump a decade ago.
Stelter, who regularly attacks conspiracy theorists, said that Trump might have picked former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton to be his new National Security Advisor today because he wanted to take attention away from an unflattering story.
In a tweet, Stelter wrote: &#8220;Bolton said he &#8216;didn&#8217;t expect an announcement this afternoon.&#8217; So I can&#8217;t help but wonder: Did Trump oust McMaster and hire Bolton to distract from CNN&#8217;s interview with Karen McDougal?&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Bolton said he &#8220;didn&#8217;t expect an announcement this afternoon.&#8221; So I can&#8217;t help but wonder: Did Trump oust McMaster and hire Bolton to distract from CNN&#8217;s interview with Karen McDougal? <a href="https://t.co/Oby6opoAZY">https://t.co/Oby6opoAZY</a>
&#8212; Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/976983455908036608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Twitter instantly exploded once Stelter tweeted out the video clip, mocking him for the conspiracy theory. A few examples of responses below:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I can&#8217;t help but wonder if you need to be committed. <a href="https://t.co/LGz0BVs0U8">https://t.co/LGz0BVs0U8</a>
&#8212; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/976993779604512768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Oh for God&#8217;s sake <a href="https://t.co/V2jma0jB4b">https://t.co/V2jma0jB4b</a>
&#8212; John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jpodhoretz/status/976994054062903296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This guy is 1000 percent pure comedy <a href="https://t.co/t1Kxo88i8M">https://t.co/t1Kxo88i8M</a>
&#8212; GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) <a href="https://twitter.com/greggutfeld/status/976992480402051075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
A bit of self serving speculation never hurt anyone, right?
I suppose it&#8217;s possible, but I&#8217;m inclined to doubt any theory presuming Donald Trump is thinking even a single move ahead. <a href="https://t.co/BfBSFPyxmM">https://t.co/BfBSFPyxmM</a>
&#8212; Kmele (@kmele) <a href="https://twitter.com/kmele/status/976991775457005570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Come on. <a href="https://t.co/7vWH9gaoRA">https://t.co/7vWH9gaoRA</a>
&#8212; Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/976995366326472705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
What makes you believe Trump is unhappy with a former playboy bunny on TV talking about her consensual affair with him? Sounds like something John Barron would arrange <a href="https://t.co/7z47SxHLpj">https://t.co/7z47SxHLpj</a>
&#8212; Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jamie_Weinstein/status/976993105344978944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
For fake news, you seem to have a high opinion of yourself. <a href="https://t.co/xSyGBFMM0v">https://t.co/xSyGBFMM0v</a>
&#8212; Drill Thrawl (@Drill_Thrawl) <a href="https://twitter.com/Drill_Thrawl/status/977011956258361344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
You&#8217;re not that relevant. You are <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FakeNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FakeNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/S3DVLX20Vg">https://t.co/S3DVLX20Vg</a>
&#8212; John (@AmericanPat81) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanPat81/status/977004587117940736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Mr. Potato Head has concerns and stuff y&#8217;all <a href="https://t.co/83Y3yWrHhI">https://t.co/83Y3yWrHhI</a>
&#8212; FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) <a href="https://twitter.com/FilmLadd/status/977002911069802498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Dude you need a psychological exam. Not everything is about you and CNN. Nobody even watches. <a href="https://t.co/2jtKBa4Y1Y">https://t.co/2jtKBa4Y1Y</a>
&#8212; Ross Johansen (@rossjohansen) <a href="https://twitter.com/rossjohansen/status/977002165058330626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Chemtrails! Grassy Knoll! Fire doesn&#8217;t melt steel. Seth Rich. Pizzagate. McRib. <a href="https://t.co/DxOkTppQ3U">https://t.co/DxOkTppQ3U</a>
&#8212; Jon McC (@fatdaddybulldog) <a href="https://twitter.com/fatdaddybulldog/status/977001988524257280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My God. <a href="https://t.co/x7puYCRJF4">https://t.co/x7puYCRJF4</a>
&#8212; Botty McBotface (@JammieWF) <a href="https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/977001250280615936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Is this guy a Russian bot? <a href="https://t.co/cPcxWW2SzT">https://t.co/cPcxWW2SzT</a>
&#8212; Christopher Walken (@unrealWalken) <a href="https://twitter.com/unrealWalken/status/977018287245606912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Oh my God, this is so dumb.<a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a> why are you hiring these amateurs? <a href="https://t.co/8GdvbzDxd8">https://t.co/8GdvbzDxd8</a>
&#8212; cobracommander15 (@cobracommandr15) <a href="https://twitter.com/cobracommandr15/status/977005235490213889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Bwahahahahahahaha! Bless. <a href="https://t.co/4D8suNo7BB">https://t.co/4D8suNo7BB</a>
&#8212; Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/977000310387351552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This is almost as bad as Don Lemon&#8217;s speculation about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MH370?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MH370</a> flying into a black hole. Put down the crack pipe. <a href="https://t.co/DtB4oYQrDH">https://t.co/DtB4oYQrDH</a>
&#8212; David Morgan (@StarCoreOne02) <a href="https://twitter.com/StarCoreOne02/status/976999104382488577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Yeah Brian, you finally figured him out. <a href="https://t.co/jLhB1eNpSk">https://t.co/jLhB1eNpSk</a>
&#8212; christøpher (@cdwillett66) <a href="https://twitter.com/cdwillett66/status/976993131152494592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Do you wanna tell Brian most folks consider his network a laughingstock or should I? <a href="https://t.co/c209LZS1uR">https://t.co/c209LZS1uR</a>
&#8212; Blue State Snooze (@BlueSnoozeBlue) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueSnoozeBlue/status/976994386427998210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This is why no one takes <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a> seriously <a href="https://t.co/glmzo92JfR">https://t.co/glmzo92JfR</a>
&#8212; Michael C. Froedge (@Mo_Fro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mo_Fro3/status/977019682946502657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Yea, that&#8217;s it doughboy. <a href="https://t.co/v3sRrN64D1">https://t.co/v3sRrN64D1</a>
&#8212; AmericanGenocide (@AmericanBrawn1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanBrawn1/status/977019123929624576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Brian you are insufferable <a href="https://t.co/ZaP2uThf0T">https://t.co/ZaP2uThf0T</a>
&#8212; Russell Waldman (@russell_waldman) <a href="https://twitter.com/russell_waldman/status/977017909783359488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Today in delusional people who think the world revolves around them: <a href="https://t.co/G0vAV6eFkO">https://t.co/G0vAV6eFkO</a>
&#8212; Candace (@BookAddict10) <a href="https://twitter.com/BookAddict10/status/977017814077784064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
You get paid to be this fucking retarded, <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brianstelter</a>? <a href="https://t.co/e8cPEYXEek">https://t.co/e8cPEYXEek</a>
&#8212; Hugh G. McLeod (@HughGMcLeod) <a href="https://twitter.com/HughGMcLeod/status/977016923144761344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Stelter is constantly reaching for straws on his dopey show.
Which no one watches. <a href="https://t.co/scULQrTfFe">https://t.co/scULQrTfFe</a>
&#8212; Uhtred of Bebbanburg (@conservativevin) <a href="https://twitter.com/conservativevin/status/976989601100451842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: CNN’s Stelter Pushes Insane Conspiracy Theory On Trump. Twitter Explodes.

John Bolton

On Thursday, NBC News reported that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is going to be replaced as early as next month in a move coordinated by at least two top White House officials.
Leading the shakeup are White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-preparing-mcmaster-exit-early-next-month-n852371">NBC News</a> reports, citing five people who are familiar with the matter.
The report also names auto industry executive Stephen Biegun as one of the leading candidates who is being considered to replace McMaster. NBC News notes:
<blockquote>
Biegun, who currently serves as vice president of international governmental affairs for the Ford Motor Company, is no stranger to the White House. He served on the National Security Council staff from 2001 to 2003, including as a senior staffer for then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Rice introduced Biegun to Mattis, recommending him for a position in the administration, according to a close associate of Rice. After Mattis met with Biegun at a think tank event he was convinced Biegun would be a good fit for the national security adviser role, the associate said.
</blockquote>
McMaster, who replaced Michael Flynn, was widely criticized over his views of Islam as he &#8220;told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a key ideological view of other senior Trump advisers and signaling a potentially more moderate approach to the Islamic world,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/hr-mcmaster-trump-islam.html">The New York Times</a> reported last year.
McMaster also was in favor of the Iran nuclear deal and was <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/mcmaster-rushes-to-save-the-iran-nuke-deal">reportedly</a> trying to save the deal that Trump wanted to get rid of after many experts <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/23359/exclusive-%E2%80%93-expert-iran-already-has-nuclear-ryan-saavedra">harshly criticized</a> the Obama-era deal.

NBC NEWS: H.R. McMaster Leaving White House. Here’s Who’s Being Considered To Replace Him

National Security

Trump Administration

It was reported yesterday that General HR McMaster, the head of Donald Trump&#8217;s National Security Council (NSC) yelled at an Israeli delegation and brushed off its concern that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, was a serious threat to Israel.
PJ Media <a href="https://pjmedia.com/davidsteinberg/exclusive-gen-mcmaster-sparked-row-israeli-delegation-white-house-meeting-hezbollah/">reported</a> that in August, an Israeli delegation met with the NSC at the White House to talk about the Hezbollah threat. The meeting preceded a two-week long Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) exercise to prepare for a possible war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. While Hezbollah has been designated a terror group by the US since 1997, McMaster opposes this, and appointed Mustafa <a>Javed Ali</a>, someone opposed to the terror group&#8217;s designation, to the position of NSC Senior Director on Counter-Terrorism. As such, the Israeli delegation demanded that Ali leave the meeting.
But the friction didn&#8217;t end there. McMaster, after the Israeli demand, allegedly blew off the Israeli concern about Hezbollah, and even went on to yell at the Israeli group.
PJ Media went on to state that none of its sources were aware of Trump&#8217;s knowledge of the incident.
Still, none of this should be surprising. McMaster has purged all pro-Israel appointees from the NSC who supported Trump&#8217;s campaign agenda. Likewise, as Conservative Review&#8217;s Jordan Schachtel <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/official-mcmaster-calls-israel-illegitimate-occupying-power">wrote</a> last month, officials told Conservative Review that McMaster &#8220;constantly refers to the existence of a Palestinian state before 1947,&#8221; and that he describes Israel as &#8220;illegitimate&#8221; and an &#8220;occupying power.&#8221;
Schachtel also wrote that McMaster referred to the Israeli move to place security cameras on the Temple Mount in July as &#8220;just another excuse by the Israelis to repress the Arabs.&#8221; Back in May, McMaster also blatantly <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/05/16/politics/hr-mcmaster-western-wall-israel/index.html">refused</a> to state that the Western Wall is a part of Israel and didn&#8217;t even want Trump to visit the Western Wall on his trip to Israel.
But the anti-Israel voices come from other places, too, such as the State Department, specifically Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Like McMaster, Tillerson also refused to state that the Western Wall is in Jerusalem, while <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/on-plane-tillerson-says-heading-to-tel-aviv-home-of-judaism/">telling</a> reporters on Air Force One that they were heading to &#8220;Tel Aviv, home of Judaism.&#8221; He also has stated that settlements in Judea and Samaria were a &#8220;challenge&#8221; to the peace process.
It gets worse. In July, the State Department released its annual global terrorism report, which blamed Israel for Palestinian terrorism. It virtually looked like the report from the Obama administration&#8217;s State Department the year before, devoting more than 3,900 words to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In turn, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/amp/us-news/.premium-1.803252">called</a> on Trump to fire Tillerson, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/804429">stating</a> that he didn&#8217;t expect these types of statements to come out of the Trump administration.
Moreover, the <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-admin-considering-demanding-israel-give-back-key-u-s-military-aid/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&amp;utm_campaign=26b39d9104-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_08&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-26b39d9104-46183105">Washington Free Beacon</a> reported last week that the State Department considered demanding Israel give back $75 million that it received from the U.S., but Trump stated that this report was <a href="https://worldisraelnews.com/trump-administration-vows-to-give-israel-additional-75-million-in-aid/?utm_source=MadMimi&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content='The+United+States+became+the+State+of+Israel';+Trump+Wants+Israel+to+Keep+the+$75+Million&amp;utm_campaign=20170911_m141387987_'The+United+States+became+the+State+of+Israel';+Trump+Wants+Israel+to+Keep+the+$75+Million&amp;utm_term=_0A_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09Read+Now_0A_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09">incorrect</a>.
But alas, Tillerson is still employed.
Something must be done to turn President Trump&#8217;s agenda into candidate Trump&#8217;s. In the last few months, Trump has taken a hard turn Left in many areas, such as immigration and border security. He also hasn&#8217;t repealed Obamacare or cut taxes. But while those enormous domestic issues need to be dealt with, foreign policy can&#8217;t be forgotten.
The State Department and NSC need to be purged again, and refilled with supporters of Trump&#8217;s agenda. Otherwise, Trump will go down as just another D.C. swamp politician, and &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; will be nothing but a bad joke.

Follow Jeremy Frankel on <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/FrankelJeremy">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://m.facebook.com/frankeljeremy/?ref=bookmarks">Facebook</a>.

The Anti-Israel Voices in the Trump Administration Need to Go. Now.

State Department

There is a report claiming that National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster yelled at an Israeli delegation for being concerned about the activities of Hezbollah.
According to <a href="https://pjmedia.com/davidsteinberg/exclusive-gen-mcmaster-sparked-row-israeli-delegation-white-house-meeting-hezbollah/">David Steinberg of PJ Media</a>, during the last week of August an Israeli delegation met with White House officials to discuss Hezbollah, which Israel currently views as a dire threat. One of the attendees was Mustafa Javed Ali, the National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director on Counter-Terrorism, who is opposed to Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood being designated as terror organizations and was the driving force behind uninviting <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/9908/ali-islam-religion-peace-aaron-bandler">Ayaan Hirsi Ali</a> from speaking before the NSC.
Naturally, the Israelis were enraged that Javed Ali was attending the meeting and demanded that he leave. It went downhill from there:
<blockquote>
Sources reported that McMaster went on to explicitly dismiss the Israelis&#8217; specific concerns about Hezbollah.
In particular, the Israelis expressed concern that the &#8220;safe zone&#8221; currently being established within Syria &#8212; an idea that had been vociferously supported by Hezbollah&#8217;s sponsor, Iran &#8212; would immediately become a safe zone for Hezbollah to operate.
McMaster was said to &#8220;blow off&#8221; this major Israeli concern, and to be &#8220;yelling at the Israelis&#8221; during the meeting.
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/235466">Israel National News</a> picked up on the report and noted that the Israeli officials present at the meeting &#8220;included Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, and Zohar Palti, who heads the Defense Ministry&#8217;s political-security department.&#8221;
However, the Israel National News report does point out that &#8220;top Israeli officials&#8221; have defended McMaster against claims that he is anti-Israel. That doesn&#8217;t change the fact that <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19428/5-things-you-need-know-about-national-security-aaron-bandler">McMaster&#8217;s statements and actions</a> seem to form an anti-Israel pattern.
If true, the report about McMaster shouting at Israeli officials for being concerned about Hezbollah is quite disturbing. Even though Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy terror group, is bogged down in fighting in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, they have strengthened since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War to the point where they have become <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-Hezbollah-is-an-imminent-challenge-at-the-top-of-our-priorities-496150">&#8220;the most imminent challenge on the horizon for the IDF.&#8221;</a>
McMaster should be making it clear to Israel that the United States has their back in the event of another Israel-Hezbollah war, not yelling at them.
<a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a>

Report: McMaster Yelled At Israelis Over Their Concerns About Hezbollah

President Trump&#8217;s national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, has been criticized by members of the Right of late over his recent actions involving firing Trump allies from the National Security Council (NSC), but the president is standing behind McMaster.
&#8220;General McMaster and I are working very well together,&#8221; Trump told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/us/politics/trump-mcmaster-national-security-conservatives.html">The New York Times</a> in a statement. &#8220;He is a good man and very pro-Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country.&#8221;
Here are five things you need to know about McMaster.
1. McMaster has been purging Trump allies from the NSC while keeping holdovers from the Obama administration. The fact is that their firings have helped enshrine Barack Obama&#8217;s foreign policy blunders.
The <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/mcmaster-warpath-purges-key-trump-allies-white-house-nsc/">Washington Free Beacon reported</a> on Thursday, &#8220;The Trump staffers fired by McMaster had repeatedly clashed with career government staffers and holdovers from the Obama administration on issues as diverse as military strategies for Syria and Afghanistan, whether to tear up Obama&#8217;s landmark Iran deal, the controversial détente with Cuba, the U.S. role in confronting Islamic radicalism, and the Paris Climate Accord.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-loyalist-ezra-cohen-watnick-fired-from-nsc-sources-say">Jordan Schachtel of </a><a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-loyalist-ezra-cohen-watnick-fired-from-nsc-sources-say">Conservative Review</a> reported that one of the fired Trump loyalists, Senior Director of Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick, &#8220;wanted to revamp counter-Iran efforts in the Middle East&#8221; as well as weed out the politicization of intelligence agencies. Another fired Trump loyalist, Middle East NSC Director Derek Harvey, had listed all the Obama holdovers in the NSC and had a detailed strategy in place to scrap the Iran deal.
In fact, Obama holdovers had undermined Harvey&#8217;s efforts by refusing to give him necessary information:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Wide-ranging Daily Beast on NSC drama
Trump loyalist Harvey fired bc Obama holdovers refused to give him what he needed to do Iran strategy <a href="https://t.co/KzmRJ3Y0MV">pic.twitter.com/KzmRJ3Y0MV</a>
&#8212; Omri Ceren (@omriceren) <a href="https://twitter.com/omriceren/status/894205688876027904">August 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Rich Higgins, the NSC&#8217;s director for strategic planning who was also recently fired by McMaster, had attempted to expose a document from the Obama administration that some believe would have exposed their alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood: (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/a-national-security-council-staffer-is-forced-out-over-a-controversial-memo/535725/">H/T:</a> The Atlantic)
<blockquote>
Higgins had also &#8220;pushed for declassification of documents having to do with radical Islam and Iran,&#8221; according to a source close to the White House. A source close to Higgins said that specifically, Higgins had been pushing for the declassification of Presidential Study Directive 11, a classified report produced in 2010 by the Obama administration which presaged the Arab Spring, outlining unrest throughout the Middle East. The directive has become a shibboleth of activists such as Frank Gaffney, who see it as evidence of the Obama administration&#8217;s links to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups.
</blockquote>
Higgins had also written in a memo that the Left had become allied with Islamist groups:
<blockquote>
Through the campaign, candidate Trump tapped into a deep vein of concern among many citizens that America is at risk and slipping away. Globalists and Islamists recognize that for their visions to succeed, America, both as an ideal and as a national and political identity, must be destroyed. &#8230; Islamists ally with cultural Marxists because, as far back as the 1980s, they properly assessed that the left has a strong chance of reducing Western civilization to its benefit. Having co-opted post-modern narratives as critical points, Islamists will co-opt the movement in its entirety at some future point. (NOTE! Communist take over of Russian revolution against the Czars, N Vietnamese against the South, Maoists against the democratic forces against the Chinese dynasty.)
</blockquote>
Meanwhile, <a href="https://spectator.org/mcmaster-the-ultimate-holdover/">McMaster has kept Obama holdovers on board the NSC</a>, including four people who directly worked for <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/09/ben-rhodes-reveals-how-obama-duped-america-into-the-dangerous-iran-deal/">Ben Rhodes</a>, Barack Obama&#8217;s former deputy national security advisor who gloated about lying to the media about the Iran deal. McMaster has even absurdly stated that &#8220;there&#8217;s no such thing as a holdover.&#8221;
An anonymous source told the Free Beacon that McMaster &#8220;didn&#8217;t want anyone pointing out how Obama loyalists were still in place, undermining President Trump, and leaking against him.&#8221;
2. McMaster granted former National Security Advisor Susan Rice a top security clearance. 
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Generally normal for fmr NSC official to keep clearance. But Susan Rice has been accused of using clearance to conduct illegal surveillance
&#8212; Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/893170413601267712">August 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Indeed, it has been <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/hr-mcmaster-gave-susan-rice-top-secret-clearance-report">reported</a> that McMaster, without the president&#8217;s knowledge, granted the clearance to Rice, an extraordinarily shocking move because allegations of unmasking names for political purposes normally result in grounds for removing security clearances. For whatever reason, McMaster doesn&#8217;t seem to be bothered by those allegations.
3. McMaster has made statements and conducted actions that reflect an anti-Israel slant. <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19335/senior-west-wing-official-says-mcmaster-called-hank-berrien">The Daily Wire&#8216;s Hank Berrien reported</a> the following regarding McMaster and Israel:
<ul>
<li>McMaster has referred to Israel as &#8220;illegitimate&#8221; and that it&#8217;s an &#8220;occupying power.&#8221;</li>
<li>McMaster pushed for Trump to attend the Western Wall without the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.</li>
<li>McMaster quashed a joint project with Israel to disrupt the Iran-Hezbollah alliance.</li>
<li>McMaster favors the Iran deal.</li>
<li>McMaster won&#8217;t recognize the Western Wall as belonging to Israel.</li>
<li>When Israel started using metal detectors at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in response to the murder of two Israeli police officers by Palestinian terrorists, McMaster viewed it as &#8220;just another excuse by the Israelis to repress the Arabs.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
McMaster is no friend to Israel.
4. McMaster is soft on radical Islam. Via <a href="https://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2017/08/06/the-mcmaster-turmoil/">PJ Media</a>:
<blockquote>
McMaster has instructed his staff to avoid using the phrase &#8220;radical Islamic terrorism,&#8221; and tried to remove it from the president&#8217;s recent speech in Warsaw, Poland (Trump put it back in). According to a recent rumor, the NSC declined to schedule a talk on radical Islamic terrorism by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the country&#8217;s most respected authorities, reportedly because one of McMaster&#8217;s appointees, Mustafa Javed Ali, accused her of &#8220;Islamophobia.&#8221; McMaster&#8217;s predecessor, General Mike Flynn, advocated waging ideological war against &#8220;radical Islamists,&#8221; supporting moderate Muslims, and putting the United States firmly behind Muslim governments, such as Indonesia and Egypt, that fought the jihadis. McMaster does not agree.
</blockquote>
McMaster has also endorsed <a href="https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/03/14/more-evidence-that-mcmaster-shares-obamas-views-on-islam-and-terror/">a book that attempts to disassociate Islamism from terrorism</a>.
5. No, there is not a Russian propaganda effort to oust McMaster. McMaster&#8217;s defenders have claimed that there is a Russian campaign effort to get McMaster fired; therefore he must be remain in his role as national security advisor. However, <a href="https://securitystudies.org/understanding-russian-propaganda/">Brad Patty at the Security Studies Group (SSG) argued</a> that McMaster is in favor of policies that are beneficial to Russia, including his support of the Iran deal and <a href="https://securitystudies.org/trump-right-ask-reconsideration-afghanistan/">continuing to stay the course in Afghanistan</a>.
What the Russians are doing is a matter of reverse psychology: by pretending to support McMaster&#8217;s firing, McMaster will stay in place and maintain policies that the Kremlin supports, Patty argues:
<blockquote>
Russia is only playing at being against McMaster, for that matter: the inside-the-Beltway impulse to stay the course in Obama-era policies sustains a number of Russia&#8217;s foreign policy goals. Listening to what Russia says through these propaganda outlets is just as dangerous for those who think of themselves as enemies of Russia as it is for those who think of themselves as friendly to Russia. The Russian professionals have successfully manipulated very many people by playing this particular game.
</blockquote>
One thing is very clear about McMaster: as long as he&#8217;s Trump&#8217;s national security advisor, <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/03/exclusive-everything-the-president-wants-to-do-mcmaster-opposes-former-nsc-official-says/?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_campaign=atthedcpolitics">it will be very difficult for the president to implement his foreign policy agenda</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a>

5 Things You Need To Know About National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster

Iran

Islam

Radical Islam

Russia

Susan Rice

During an interview with MSNBC, White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster stated that all options were on the table when it comes to U.S. policy toward North Korea. The interview was taped on Wednesday (days before the <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19384/tough-talk-works-un-votes-15-0-sanction-north-joseph-curl">United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a new sanctions measure against the hermit kingdom</a>), but aired on Saturday.
McMaster even threatened &#8220;preventive war&#8221; if the North Koreans continued to rapidly accelerate their nuclear weapons program.
&#8220;What you&#8217;re asking is, are we preparing plans for a preventive war, right?&#8221; said the national security professional in response to a question from MSNBC host and conservative pundit, Hugh Hewitt. &#8220;A war that would prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. And the president&#8217;s been very clear about it. He said he&#8217;s not gonna tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United States. If they have nuclear weapons that can threaten the United States, it&#8217;s intolerable from the president&#8217;s perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option.&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_zaT-POYrw" width="720"></iframe></div>
McMaster appeared clear-eyed in the face of the rogue regime&#8217;s recently successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, but refused to elaborate on North Korea&#8217;s weapons capabilities, noting only that the regime poses a major threat to Southeast Asian allies as well as the Untied States.
McMaster stated:
<blockquote>
It&#8217;s impossible to overstate the danger associated with this. I think it&#8217;s impossible to overstate the danger associated with a rogue, brutal regime, I mean, who murdered his own brother with nerve agent in an airport. I mean, think about what he&#8217;s done, in terms of his own brutal repression of not only members of his regime but his own family.
</blockquote>
Regarding the scope of the danger posed by North Korea, McMaster <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/us-north-korea-war-mcmaster-646942">added</a>: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to confirm [whether the latest ICBM could reach anywhere in the U.S.] but whether it could reach San Francisco or Pittsburgh or Washington, I mean how much does that matter? It&#8217;s a grave threat.&#8221;

McMaster: ‘Preventive War’ With North Korea On The Table

China

North Korea

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster has taken it upon himself to eliminate the pro-Israel voices at the National Security Council, according to three West Wing and defense officials who spoke to <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/official-mcmaster-calls-israel-illegitimate-occupying-power">Conservative Review</a> (CR).
On Wednesday, Israeli journalist Caroline Glick, a staunch defender of Israel, born in America, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/carolineglick/posts/1588593701211378">detailed</a> explosive allegations vis-à-vis McMaster and Israel:
<blockquote>
Many of you will remember that a few days before Trump&#8217;s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers were blindsided when the Americans suddenly told them that no Israeli official was allowed to accompany Trump to the Western Wall. What hasn&#8217;t been reported is that it was McMaster who pressured Trump to agree not to let Netanyahu accompany him to the Western Wall. At the time, I and other reporters were led to believe that this was the decision of rogue anti-Israel officers at the US consulate in Jerusalem. But it wasn&#8217;t. It was McMaster.
And even that, it works out, wasn&#8217;t sufficient for McMaster. He pressured Trump to cancel his visit to the Wall and only visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial &#8212; a la the Islamists who insist that the only reason Israel exists is European guilt over the Holocaust.
</blockquote>
Since McMaster took over the NSC, seven members who were staunchly pro-Israel have been purged: Steve Bannon, K.T. McFarland, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, Rich Higgins, Adam Lovinger, and Tera Dahl.
One senior West Wing official told CR, &#8220;McMaster constantly refers to the existence of a Palestinian state before 1947,&#8221; and that McMaster describes Israel as an &#8220;illegitimate,&#8221; &#8220;occupying power.&#8221;
There was never a Palestinian state; the name &#8220;Palestine&#8221; <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/origin-of-quot-palestine-quot">comes from</a> the Hebrew word &#8220;peleshet&#8221; that was used to refer to the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Philistines, an Aegean people closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguistically or historically with Arabia. In the second century A.D., the Romans defeated the Jews, and named the land Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. Until 1948, when people used the term &#8220;Palestinian,&#8221; it referred to Jews in the land.
McMaster shut down a joint U.S.-Israel project to fight Hezbollah&#8217;s efforts to help Iran; it had been led by now-former NSC Middle East director Derek Harvey.
After Palestinian terrorists armed with rifles left the al-Aqsa mosque compound and assassinated two Israeli police officers, Israel installed metal detectors; McMaster called the move &#8220;just another excuse by the Israelis to repress the Arabs,&#8221; according to a senior defense official.
A senior West Wing official said, &#8220;In advance of the president&#8217;s trip to Israel, there was a lot of desire from within the Trump administration for [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu to join the president at the Western Wall. McMaster didn&#8217;t even want [Trump] to go to the Western Wall. He only wanted the president to visit the Holocaust Museum.&#8221;
In May, McMaster <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/cruz-western-wall-part-of-israel-and-jerusalem-its-capital">refused</a> to recognize that the Western Wall was part of Israel.
On Wednesday, McMaster <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-loyalist-ezra-cohen-watnick-fired-from-nsc-sources-say">fired</a> Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the NSC.
Daniel Horowitz of CR <a href="https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2017/08/03/mcmaster-purges-continue/">told</a> Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy:
<blockquote>
From his time at CENTCOMM, (U.S. Central Command) McMaster has developed the full-Arabist world-view, that Israel&#8217;s an enemy; he&#8217;s as anti-Israel as anyone in the Obama Administration; he&#8217;s pro-Iran deal; he wants to get all of our troops involved in every Islamic civil war to the detriment of our country. Literally, if you would check the boxes on the of Trump&#8217;s campaign promises, he&#8217;s on the opposite side of every one of them, and now he&#8217;s purging all of Trump&#8217;s own loyalists on the national Security Council and it&#8217;s not like he&#8217;s keeping some of the establishment Republicans; there are Democrats there.
</blockquote>
As Fred Fleitz, former Chief of Staff for Ambassador John Bolton, <a href="https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2017/07/17/mcmaster-outlines-hillary-clinton-like-approach-to-certification-of-iran-nuclear-deal/">wrote roughly two weeks ago</a>, McMaster isn&#8217;t going hard-line on Iran, whose burgeoning nuclear program poses an existential threat to Israel:
<blockquote>
According to McMaster, Iran has been &#8220;walking up to violating the letter&#8221; of the JCPOA. This is false. I asked McMaster how the Trump administration could do this in light of clear evidence that Iran is violating the JCPOA. I mentioned recent op-eds that Ambassador John Bolton and I wrote on these violations in <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/foreign-policy/342237-opinion-trump-must-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal-now">The Hill</a> and <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449490/iran-nuclear-deal-noncompliance">NRO</a>. I said that this is a very troubling decision that amounts to looking the other way on Iran&#8217;s violations, legitimizing the dangerous concessions the Obama administration made to get this deal and goes against the president&#8217;s statements during the presidential campaign. I added that this policy to stick with the JCPOA is little different than what Hillary Clinton would have done if she had won the 2016 election.
McMaster refused to answer my question. He refused to address the issue of Iranian violations at all until another questioner pushed him on this which led McMaster to give the misleading answer above on Iran being in default of the spirit of this agreement.
</blockquote>

Senior West Wing Official Says McMaster Called Israel ‘Illegitimate’ ‘Occupying Power’

Following <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/16481/trump-administration-israel-western-wall-not-your-michael-qazvini">shocking reports</a> of Trump administration officials engaging in a shouting match with the Israelis after denying that the Western Wall, Judaism&#8217;s holiest site, was part of the Jewish State of Israel, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster failed to put the controversy to rest. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, McMaster refused to answer the simple question of whether or not the Western Wall belongs to Israel.
&#8220;That sounds like a policy decision,&#8221; McMaster <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/hr-mcmaster-trump-western-wall-238451">said</a> at the White House briefing, presumably deferring the matter to Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
As The Daily Wire <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/16481/trump-administration-israel-western-wall-not-your-michael-qazvini">reported</a> Monday, Israeli officials were livid over the behavior of the Trump administration ahead of the president&#8217;s scheduled trip to the Holy Land.
In fact, Israeli officials were so upset over the U.S. delegation&#8217;s position on Jerusalem that a shouting match erupted between representatives of the two countries.
&#8220;These comments led to vociferous protests by the Israelis, with the discussion descending into shouting and the Israelis reminding the U.S. team that the Western Wall and adjacent area &#8216;is territory holy to Israel,&#8217; <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/16481/trump-administration-israel-western-wall-not-your-michael-qazvini">reported</a> The Times of Israel, adding:
<blockquote>
In a statement reported by Channel 2, an official at the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office said that &#8220;the comment that the Western Wall is part of the West Bank was received with astonishment&#8221; but that &#8220;Israel is certain that the comment contradicts President Trump&#8217;s policy as expressed in his fierce opposition to the latest UN Security Council resolution&#8221; &#8212; a reference to UNSC Resolution 2334 from last December, which rejected Israeli rights in Jerusalem and which Trump publicly opposed. &#8220;Israel has asked the US about this,&#8221; the PMO official said.
</blockquote>
Nonetheless, the Netanyahu government gave the Trump White House the benefit of the doubt, insisting that such a historically revisionist point of view can&#8217;t possibly reflect U.S. policy.
But after McMaster&#8217;s non-answer, the Israelis may now be reconsidering their optimism.
Refusing to acknowledge three-millennia of Jewish history, McMaster spoke in broad terms about Trump&#8217;s trip to a shrine significant to the &#8220;three world&#8217;s religions.&#8221; 
&#8220;He&#8217;s going to the Western Wall mainly in connection with the theme to connect with three of the world&#8217;s great religions and &#8230; to pay homage to each of the religious sites that he&#8217;s visiting &#8230; but also to highlight the theme that we all have to be united against really what are the enemies of all civilized people,&#8221; McMaster said, repeating what can only be described as the politically correct introduction syllabus to World Religions 101.
By leaving open the question of the Western Wall, the Trump administration plays directly into the hands of the Jewish State&#8217;s most hostile enemies, or to quote McMaster, &#8220;the enemies of all civilized people.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/9929/jew-hating-un-yeah-jews-have-nothing-do-temple-joshua-yasmeh">reported</a> last October &#8220;UNESCO, the politicized &#8216;cultural&#8217; arm of the United Nations, passed a resolution designed to erase more than 3,000 years of Jewish history. The unequivocally anti-Jewish resolution posits that Jews have no connection to the Temple Mount. Of course, the sick irony here is that it was the Jews that built the Temple Mount, a structure now increasingly occupied by colonialist Arab-Muslims.&#8221;
At the time, &#8220;[t]he United States led the charge against the resolution, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Lithuania and Estonia,&#8221; according to The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/9929/jew-hating-un-yeah-jews-have-nothing-do-temple-joshua-yasmeh">report</a>.
The Trump administration&#8217;s flirtation with crude historical revisionism, the kind that only far-Left anti-imperialist zealots and hardcore Palestinian nationalists embrace, comes as the White House walks back the president&#8217;s vow to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
&#8220;On Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared the Trump administration&#8217;s renewed efforts to advance a peace initiative between the Israelis and Palestinians,&#8221; <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/16477/uh-oh-trump-pushing-another-middle-east-peace-deal-michael-qazvini">noted</a> The Daily Wire. &#8220;In an interview with NBC&#8217;s Chuck Todd, Tillerson appeared to walk back Trump&#8217;s vow to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, asserting that such a move would hinge on diplomatic talks moving forward.&#8221;
Tillerson&#8217;s remarks prompted immediate pushback by the Israeli prime minister himself.
&#8220;Israel&#8217;s position has been stated many times to the U.S. government and to the world,&#8221; Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-member-of-trump-team-said-to-tell-israelis-western-wall-is-not-your-territory/">asserted</a>. &#8220;Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem &#8230; will advance [the peace process] by correcting a historical wrong and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.&#8221;
To make matters worse, Trump will likely push his peace initiative during his May 22-23 visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
&#8220;The president has recently expressed his view that he wants to put a lot of effort into seeing if we cannot advance a peace initiative between Israel and Palestine,&#8221; Tillerson said Sunday.
Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians would welcome an American-imposed peace process, especially one that&#8217;s quickly and thoughtlessly assembled, at this time. It&#8217;s a fool&#8217;s errand, poorly designed to boost Trump&#8217;s prestige and clout in the Middle East.
By all metrics, Netanyahu and the president were on good terms in the days after Trump&#8217;s inauguration. But given the Trump administration&#8217;s antics, that relationship may be souring.

McMaster Refuses To Answer Whether Western Wall Is Part Of Israel: It’s ‘A Policy Decision.’ Israel Furious.

Palestinians

After an evening of absolute confusion surrounding a Washington Post story alleging that President Trump spilled highly classified details surrounding an ISIS plot to Russia, thereby endangering intelligence sources, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster stepped to the podium to attempt to quell the controversy.
Last night, McMaster suggested that the Washington Post story was &#8220;false,&#8221; and said that Trump had not revealed any intelligence sources or methods &#8212; neither of which was alleged by the Washington Post. But McMaster was careful not to deny that Trump had revealed classified information to Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
On Tuesday morning, McMaster clarified his story. Now, McMaster said, he was simply saying that Trump didn&#8217;t reveal any information that created danger in any way. &#8220;I stand by my statement that I made yesterday,&#8221; McMaster said. &#8220;What I&#8217;m saying is that the premise of that article is false, that the president had any kind of conversation that was inappropriate or that there was a lapse in national security at all.&#8221; He then said Trump &#8220;wasn&#8217;t briefed on the source of the information&#8230; The president wasn&#8217;t even aware of where this information came from.&#8221;
This a different argument than the one made by the White House on Monday night: instead of denying that Trump had revealed classified information, now the argument is that it just wasn&#8217;t inappropriate or important. This new defense raises several more questions and issues, unfortunately:
<ul>
<li>If Trump didn&#8217;t say anything inappropriate, why not just declassify the transcript of the conversation with the Russians?</li>
<li>If Trump isn&#8217;t aware something is classified, isn&#8217;t that slightly more problematic than if he purposefully dropped classified information he found unimportant?</li>
<li>If the information was unimportant this time, that still does not answer the broader question as to whether Trump knew it was unimportant, or whether Trump will drop more important information in the future.</li>
<li>If nothing bad happened, why did the Homeland Security Advisor reportedly contact the CIA and NSA to clean up after Trump?</li>
<li>Why didn&#8217;t McMaster just say this last night, rather than give a vaguely-worded statement, then waiting for Trump to tweet something and following up on it?</li>
</ul>
The media may be out over its skis on the information Trump gave the Russians &#8212; perhaps it was entirely innocuous. But it&#8217;s difficult to tell when the story keeps changing, and when we don&#8217;t know what the information was.

McMaster: Trump Didn’t Do Anything ‘Inappropriate’ In Russian Conversation, No ‘Lapse In National Security’

Sergei Lavrov

Sergey Kislyak

Employees of The Washington Post erupted in applause when they learned of the widespread reading of an anonymously-sourced <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html">Monday-published article</a> entitled, &#8220;Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador,&#8221; accusing President Donald Trump of compromising sensitive intelligence regarding the Islamic State during a meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister.

Glenn Kessler, a &#8220;fact-checker&#8221; at The Washington Post, <a href="https://twitter.com/GlennKesslerWP/status/864231063295582209">noted the celebration</a> at his employer&#8217;s newsroom, comparing it with the news media&#8217;s push of the &#8220;October Surprise&#8221; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_and_Billy_Bush_recording">2005 Hollywood Access video</a> during 2016&#8217;s presidential campaign season:

<img alt height="416" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/glenn_kessler_tweet.jpg" width="780" />

The aforementioned article features an infographic resembling a family tree-style flowchart from the Mafia Commission trial, hyping the narrative of Trump as an operative of political subversion in conspiracy with or compromised by the Russian state:

<img alt height="531" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/wapo_russia_infographic.jpg" width="780" />
Also on Monday, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/trump-russia-classified-information-isis.html">The New York Times</a> claimed to confirm The Washington Post&#8216;s report, also citing anonymous sources in an article entitled, &#8220;Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally, Officials Say.&#8221;

In January, The Washington Post adopted a new slogan featured on its published newspapers and website: &#8220;Democracy Dies in Darkness:&#8221;

<img alt height="101" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/washington_post_democracy_dies_darkness-4.jpg" width="444" />

The Washington Post and The New York Times present themselves as politically objective and non-partisan news media outlets. Both enjoy business relationships with cable news networks as well as ABC, CBS, and NBC.


H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/mzhemingway/status/864271061763936256">Mollie Hemingway</a> of The Federalist and Fox News Channel.
Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

glenn_kessler_tweet

WaPo Newsroom Celebrates ‘Russia-Leak Scoop’ Going Viral

Fake News

Media

Media Bias

New York Times

On Monday evening, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html">The Washington Post</a> published a blockbuster allegation: that President Trump personally revealed classified information to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their highly-publicized, behind-closed-doors meeting the day after Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The Washington Post reported:
<blockquote>
The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said. The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump&#8217;s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump&#8217;s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.
</blockquote>
The source was anonymous, of course. The portion of the information that was particularly sensitive was the location of an ISIS plot; the plot supposedly had to do with exploding laptops on airplanes.
The White House immediately responded by sending out National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to give a 60-second statement. The statement denied that The Washington Post report occurred as reported; McMaster stated, &#8220;The story that came out tonight is false. I was in the room. It didn&#8217;t happen.&#8221; McMaster got more specific, however, stating that &#8220;at no time, at no time, were intelligence methods or sources discussed.&#8221; That language left some wiggle room, however &#8212; nobody had alleged that intelligence methods or sources were discussed, just the location of the plot. This was exactly the same thing McMaster said to the Post originally:
<blockquote>
The president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from terrorist organizations to include threats to aviation. At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.
</blockquote>
If the story is true, it&#8217;s a disaster for the Trump administration. If it&#8217;s false, it&#8217;s a disaster for the media.
It&#8217;s a disaster for the Trump administration because there is already a serious crisis of trust with regard to Trump personally: can he handle the rigors of being president of the United States without compromising national security? During the campaign, Hillary Clinton &#8212; the woman who put classified information on an unprotected private server &#8212; criticized Trump for not being trustworthy on secrets. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), then the Senate Minority Leader, stated, &#8220;I would suggest to the intelligence agencies: If you&#8217;re forced to brief this guy, don&#8217;t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous. Fake it, pretend you&#8217;re doing a briefing, but you can&#8217;t give the guy any information.&#8221;
Furthermore, the Trump administration was reportedly duped during the Russian meeting once already: supposedly, they allowed in the Russian press agency, which was posing as an official government source, while banning American press. 
This report needs more forceful refutation, to put it simply, if Trump wants to retain credibility beyond his base. With that said, Democrats have repeatedly leaked classified information to the public for political purposes, whether to scuttle a prospective Israeli strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities or whether Vice President Joe Biden merely jabbered about Seal Team Six taking out Osama Bin Laden. Democrats are surely politicizing this issue, but Trump is the president, and the buck stops with him &#8212; particularly when he has a meeting with the Russian government, about whom so many people have deep and justified suspicion. It&#8217;s not enough to send out McMaster to speak in broad terms about The Washington Post&#8217;s story. Trump needs to deny it personally, and McMaster needs to deny every element of the story.

BREAKING: McMaster Denies Allegations That Trump Leaked Classified Information To The Russians … Or Did He?

Republican Party

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster is losing favor with President Donald Trump. Joining the White House in the wake of the controversial Michael Flynn scandal, McMaster was initially hailed as the man who would bring back order and stability to the national security team. But as it turns out, the seasoned general may be too by-the-book for the renegade Commander-in-Chief.
Citing three White House officials, Bloomberg&#8217;s Eli Lake <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-08/washington-loves-general-mcmaster-but-trump-doesn-t">reported</a> Monday that Trump scolded McMaster over the phone after he found out that the general had called South Korean officials and assured them that the United States would honor its commitment to pay for a new missile defense system. Trump reportedly came across the news after reading The Wall Street Journal.
&#8220;These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share,&#8221; notes Lake.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Trump was angry because McMaster told the South Koreans that the US would honor a pre-existing deal, not renege as Trump had threatened 4/28 <a href="https://t.co/hczrBoH1wL">https://t.co/hczrBoH1wL</a>
&#8212; David Frum (@davidfrum) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/861621741285769216">May 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
While Trump complained that the pre-existing commitment wasn&#8217;t official U.S. policy, South Korea, an invaluable regional ally, would have felt betrayed if McMaster hadn&#8217;t followed diplomatic protocol.
Professional and polished, McMaster has charted out a straight course for U.S. foreign policy, reining in the chaotic schemes of Trump&#8217;s less-experienced national security picks. As a result, he&#8217;s facing a backlash from a president who values unpredictability and improvisation over precedence and procedure.
Lake explains:
<blockquote>
Trump has complained in front of McMaster in intelligence briefings about &#8220;the general undermining my policy,&#8221; according to two White House officials. The president has given McMaster less face time. McMaster&#8217;s requests to brief the president before some press interviews have been declined. Over the weekend, McMaster did not accompany Trump to meet with Australia&#8217;s prime minister; the outgoing deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, attended instead. 
Even McMaster&#8217;s critics acknowledge that he has professionalized the national security policy process and is a formidable strategist in his own right. Trump credits McMaster with coming up with the plan to strike a Syrian air base last month, which won bipartisan support in Washington.
At the same time, White House officials tell me that in recent weeks, Trump has privately expressed regret for choosing McMaster.
</blockquote>
According to Lake, Trump has been ambivalent about McMaster since hiring him in February. Trump shared a close personal relationship with McMaster&#8217;s predecessor, disgraced former advisor Michael Flynn.
While Vice President Mike Pence pushed for Flynn&#8217;s ousting, Trump was purportedly more circumspect about the decision.
&#8220;Trump himself has defended Flynn publicly. The two shared a bond from the campaign trail, where they often discussed sports and movies during long evenings on the road,&#8221; notes Lake. &#8220;For a president who puts so much value in personal relationships and loyalty, Flynn&#8217;s departure was a blow.&#8221;

Trump Slams NatSec Advisor McMaster For Following Protocol And Honoring Deal With South Korea.

Michael Flynn

&#8220;All options are on the table, undergoing refinement and further development,&#8221; said National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster with respect to military operations to halt the North Korean government&#8217;s pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with nuclear warheads.

Speaking with ABC&#8217;s Martha Raddatz for <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-high-alert-north-korea/story?id=46819310&amp;cid=clicksource_903_null_dp_hed">This Week</a>, McMaster also said that avoidance of military conflict was preferable in pursuit of the Trump administration&#8217;s objective to &#8220;denuclearize&#8221; North Korea&#8217;s government and stop its development of long-range missiles (emphasis added):
<blockquote>
&#8220;This is a problem that has been passed down from multiple administrations. It&#8217;s really the consensus, with the president, our key allies in the region &#8211; Japan and South Korea, in particular &#8211; but also the Chinese leadership, that this problem is coming to a head. It&#8217;s time for us to undertake all actions we can short of a military option to resolve this peacefully.&#8220;
</blockquote>
Raddatz relayed statements from the North Korean government, asking if President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/851767718248361986">tweets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/852134796436398086">regarding</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/852508752142114816">North Korea</a> increase the likelihood of war:

<blockquote>
&#8220;North Korea&#8217;s Vice Foreign Minister said Friday that the Trump administration is more vicious and more aggressive than the Obama administration, saying that Trump&#8217;s aggressive tweets were making trouble.
Does the aggressive language increase the likelihood of conflict?&#8221;
</blockquote>
Throughout the interview, McMaster suggested that Trump had been more successful in securing support from the Chinese government toward longstanding stated U.S. policy regarding North Korea than preceding presidents. 

Cooperation from the Chinese government, suggested McMaster, was essential in pursuing a non-military approach to halting the North Korean government&#8217;s pursuit of long-range nuclear weapons:

<blockquote>
&#8220;North Korea is very vulnerable to pressure from the Chinese. Eighty percent of North Korea&#8217;s trade comes from China. All of their energy requirements are fulfilled by China.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Last week, a Chinese state-run newspaper published an <a href="http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2017-04/10460570.html">op-ed</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/04/13/china-is-suddenly-leaning-on-north-korea-and-it-might-be-thanks-to-trump/">criticizing</a> North Korea&#8217;s government&#8217;s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ICBMs. Chinese shipments of oil to North Korea might be &#8220;severely limited&#8221; if the North Korean government maintains its course.

<img alt height="519" src="https://dw-wp-dev.imgix.net/2019/09/kim_jong_un.jpg" width="780" />
This undated photo released by North Korea&#8217;s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 11, 2016 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) during a combat drill of the service personnel of the special operation battalion of the Korean People&#8217;s Army Unit 525. 
H/T Tim Hains at <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/04/16/hr_mcmaster_rules_out_military_action_in_north_korea.html">RealClearPolitics</a>.

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_7RbFHF8cAU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

kim_jong_un

McMaster: ‘All Options Are On The Table’ For North Korea

Kim Jong Un

In one week, the Trump administration has made a 180-degree turnaround when it comes to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Days after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the Assad regime was a &#8220;political reality,&#8221; White House officials are now condemning both President Assad and his foreign sponsors.
However, Trump administration personnel appear to sending mixed signals about the fate of Assad in Syria. Top White House officials hit the talk show circuit Sunday, offering varying visions for Syria&#8217;s future. 
Regime change in Syria is &#8220;inevitable,&#8221; U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/09/middleeast/syria-missile-strike-chemical-attack-aftermath/">told</a> CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper Sunday.
Haley continued:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Getting Assad out is not the only priority. So what we&#8217;re trying to do is obviously defeat ISIS. Secondly, we don&#8217;t see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there. Thirdly, get the Iranian influence out. And then finally move towards a political solution, because at the end of the day this is a complicated situation. There are no easy answers, and a political solution is going to have to happen.&#8221;
</blockquote>
While Haley stopped short of explicitly supporting regime change, her words plainly suggested that Assad must go.
In contrast, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson assumed a more ambivalent tone when it came to Assad.
&#8220;Our priority is first the defeat of ISIS,&#8221; Tillerson <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/09/tillerson-haley-issue-differing-statements-on-future-of-assad-in-syria/?utm_term=.6e97ffc86a22">told</a> ABC News&#8217; George Stephanopoulos.
&#8220;Once we can eliminate the battle against ISIS, conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces,&#8221; he said, adding:
<blockquote>
&#8220;In that regard, we are hopeful that we can work with Russia and use their influence to achieve areas of stabilization throughout Syria and create the conditions for a political process through Geneva in which we can engage all of the parties on the way forward, and it is through that political process that we believe the Syrian people will lawfully be able to decide the fate of Bashar al-Assad.&#8221;
</blockquote>
In another interview on CBS&#8217;s Face the Nation, Tillerson stated that the White House hopes to &#8220;navigate a political outcome in which the Syrian people in fact will determine Bashar al-Assad&#8217;s fate and his legitimacy.&#8221;
&#8220;The United States&#8217; own founding principles are self-determination,&#8221; noted America&#8217;s chief diplomat in an apparent justification for leaving Assad in power.
When pressed by host John Dickerson, Tillerson shied away from explaining how a people stripped of power can overthrow a ruthless dictator.
&#8220;It&#8217;s important that we keep our priorities straight, and we believe that the first priority is the defeat of ISIS,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Once the ISIS threat has been reduced or eliminated, I think we can turn our attention directly to stabilizing the situation in Syria.&#8221;
With Tillerson and Haley seemingly contradicting each other, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was forced to reconcile the two positions in an <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/hr-mcmaster-syria-regime-change-237038">interview</a> with Fox News Sunday.
&#8220;What Ambassador Haley pointed out was, it&#8217;s very difficult to figure out how a political solution could result from the continuation of the Assad regime,&#8221; McMaster told host Chris Wallace. &#8220;We&#8217;re not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change. What we&#8217;re saying is, other countries have to ask themselves some hard questions. Russia should ask themselves &#8230; why are we supporting this murderous regime that is committing mass murder of its own population and using the most heinous weapons available?&#8221;
He continued:
<blockquote>
&#8220;While people are really anxious to find inconsistencies in those statements, they are in fact very consistent in terms of what is the ultimate political objective in Syria.&#8221;
</blockquote>
However, McMaster didn&#8217;t mince his words when it came to the Assad regime&#8217;s foreign backers.
As &#8220;sponsors,&#8221; Russia and Iran are enabling President Bashar al-Assad&#8217;s &#8220;campaign of mass murder against his own civilians,&#8221; he asserted.
During the presidential campaign, Trump dismissed the idea of regime change in Syria as a misguided use of American resources. Today, it&#8217;s unclear where his administration stands on the issue.

Haley Says Assad Must Go. Tillerson Is Less Sure. McMaster Slams Russia, Iran. Trump White House Issues Mixed Messages On Syria.

Bashar Assad

Nikki Haley

Syria

On Wednesday, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was removed from President Trump&#8217;s National Security Council (NSC), according to a regulatory filing cited by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-05/bannon-removed-from-national-security-council-role-in-shakeup?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_content=business&amp;utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social">Bloomberg</a>. The shakeup also affected Homeland Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, whose role was downgraded after National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was granted sole agenda-setting power over the NSC.
&#8220;Under the move, the national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, are again &#8216;regular attendees&#8217; of the NSC&#8217;s principals committee,&#8221; reports Bloomberg.
Trump drew staunch criticism from both the Left and the Right as well as non-partisan foreign policy experts when he selected a political appointee with minimal experience in security matters to serve on a body tasked with assessing national security threats alongside the Commander-in-Chief.
Bannon, a former Breitbart executive, won favor with Trump after turning the far-right website into a propaganda arm of the Trump campaign. The website catered to perhaps the most disturbing elements of the Trump coalition, including the notoriously racist alt-right ethno-nationalist movement. At one point, Bannon even <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-what-is-the-alt-right-a-refresher-1479169663-htmlstory.html">referred</a> to Breitbart as a &#8220;platform for the alt&#8211;right.&#8221; 

According to a senior White House official, Bannon was only granted a spot on the NSC to babysit the now-disgraced National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, and reverse the policies of Susan &#8220;Benghazi&#8221; Rice, formerly President Obama&#8217;s deputy National Security Adviser. Notably, the same official claims that Bannon never actually attended an NSC meeting.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
sr WH official tells me Bannon was only on NSC to keep an eye on Flynn &amp; &#8220;de-operationalize NSC from Rice&#8221; &amp; that he never went to a meeting
&#8212; Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) <a href="https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/849648807138783232">April 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
&#8220;Job done,&#8221; source says.
&#8212; Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) <a href="https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/849649386963558401">April 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
Flynn left his post after allegedly lying to Vice President Mike Pence and other key administration officials about his contacts with Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. Flynn <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/flynn-russia-us-sanctions-reports/">reportedly</a> discussed the prospect of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia over its imperialistic land-grab in Crimea. The unethical communications allegedly occurred prior to Trump&#8217;s election victory, raising disturbing questions about Flynn&#8217;s commitment to U.S. national security interests. For his part, Trump has claimed that he had no knowledge of Flynn&#8217;s communications with Kremlin officials.
However, White House officials now say that they have always had concerns about Flynn and his presence on the NSC.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Same official says the president made the decision, this was the deal from the beginning, and &#8220;we all knew Flynn had issues&#8221;
&#8212; Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) <a href="https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/849649922903289857">April 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
If this is the case, the obvious question here is: why choose Flynn to begin with? Why give a man <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/donald-trump-2016-russia-today-rt-kremlin-media-vladimir-putin-213833">with financial links to the Kremlin</a> access to classified and top secret national security information?
Since resigning, Flynn has registered as a foreign agent for the government of Turkey. In addition, a Congressional probe has been initiated to disentangle Flynn&#8217;s web of connections to Moscow.
If anything, Bannon&#8217;s abrupt departure from the NSC generates more questions than answers. Was he really just a glorified babysitter this entire time?

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