A New ‘Guardian’ Report Shows Just How Far Team Trump Would Go to Discredit the Iran Deal

Aides allegedly hired an Israeli intelligence firm to dig up dirt on Obama staffers who were involved in negotiations.

Cheriss May/Sipa USA/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

According to a new report from the Guardian, Trump aides hired an Israeli private intelligence firm to coordinate a “dirty ops” campaign against former Obama staffers who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal.

The alleged plan was to discredit the agreement, which the president has called the “worst deal ever,” by digging up dirt on Ben Rhodes, one of President Obama’s national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, who was Vice President Biden’s national security adviser. Investigators were supposedly told to look at their personal lives and any involvement with Iran-friendly lobbyists. They were also told to contact journalists who supported the deal to see if Rhodes or Kahl told them any sensitive information.

“I was not aware [of the campaign], though sadly am not surprised,” Rhodes told the Guardian. “I would say that digging up dirt on someone for carrying out their professional responsibilities in their positions as White House officials is a chillingly authoritarian thing to do.”

It’s unclear how much work was done to carry out the plan, but after the Guardian story published, Kahl tweeted about an incident last year in which a supposed “socially responsible private equity” firm contacted his wife while she was serving on the fundraising committee at their child’s elementary school in Washington, D.C.

This seems eerily similar to the tactics used by operatives trying to silence Harvey Weinstein’s accusers. That might not be a coincidence:

The Guardian report comes just days before Trump’s May 12 deadline by which he’s said he’ll make a decision on whether to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. It also follows a recent, very public attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discredit the deal—and potentially provide Trump cover should he choose to pull out of it. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate