Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the news that outspoken liberal Rep. Keith Ellison is leaving the House of Representatives to run for statewide office in Minnesota, a venture they sincerely hope ends in failure. They also lament that Medicare and Social Security are getting closer to insolvency and neither lawmakers nor most Americans seem all that concerned about it. They also highlight yet another lie perpetrated by the Obama administration in getting the Iran nuclear deal done, this time allowing Iran access to U.S. banks while adamantly telling lawmakers it would not do so.
Iran
Gorka Demands Obama Officials Lose Security Clearances
Former Trump administration official Dr. Sebastian Gorka is urging the president to take decisive action against Obama administration officials involved in conducting surveillance on the Trump campaign and to release as much information on those efforts as possible.
Gorka, also the author of the forthcoming book “Why We Fight: Recovering America’s Will to Win,” is also applauding President Trump’s decision to cancel the summit with North Korea and believes this shows exactly what kind of a leader Trump is.
Recent, widespread reports indicate that the FBI enlisted an informant to make contact with Trump campaign officials in an effort to investigate – or instigate, as Trump alleges – the connection between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 campaign.
“It’s the worst political scandal in American history. What we have is one administration deciding that they can spy on another presidential candidate and his campaign for purely political reasons. For more than a year, people laughed when the president said, ‘I was surveilled.’ Now we know that not only was he surveilled, they put covert assets into his campaign,” said Gorka.
Gorka says Trump needs to respond boldly.
“Right now all the key personnel from the last administration must be stripped of their security clearances. The idea that (former CIA Director) John Brennan is feeding Russian propaganda lines on national television and still has his security clearance is absurd,” said Gorka.
He says security clearances should also be revoked for others involved in Operation Crossfire Hurricane, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Gorka says transparency should also be on Trump’s short list.
“Now we have to see every document associated with Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the illegal political espionage operation authorized by the Obama administration. All those documents must be declassified and the president can do that at the stroke of a pen,” said Gorka.
Gorka is also pleased to see Trump back away from the scheduled June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un. In a letter to Kim, Trump said he was canceling the meeting because of North Korea’s “openly hostile” language in recent statements.
“North Korea has everything to lose. We have nothing to lose,” said Gorka, who says this episode exhibits the same leadership and negotiation skills that Gorka saw during his time at the White House.
“You see a man who is decisive. He knows what he wants. He’s results oriented. He cares about this country. He’s a pragmatist and a patriot,” said Gorka.
Gorka says Trump’s move to scrap the summit should come as no surprise to anyone who read Trump’s book,
“The Art of the Deal.”
“In chapter two, he states unequivocally (t0) never, ever be so wedded to any deal so that you can’t walk away at any point. That’s exactly what the president did.
“This is a man who isn’t interested in empty pablum or nice pieces of paper to wave at you. He isn’t an individual who looks at the world through ideological filters. He wants results. When he doesn’t get them, he’ll walk away,” said Gorka.
So what happens next in the effort to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons? Gorka says China will play a key role in determining just how badly the U.S.-led sanctions strain the Kim regime financially and possibly lead to an even better deal.
He also believes the days of the Kim regime are numbered.
“This is the great paradox of all dictatorships. They’re very powerful at the top. They deny individual liberties. But at the end of the day, they’re also highly vulnerable because of the denial of human of liberty that they are founded upon. So this is not a regime that can last forever,” said Gorka.
While crippling economic sanctions and and a robust military brought North Korea to the brink of denuclearization, Gorka believes the same results will be more difficult to achieve with Iran due to the Islamist mindset of its leaders.
“At the end of the day, the North Korean dictatorship is evil but they’re rational. When you’re dealing with a theocracy like Iran, there are individuals at the top, amongst the mullahs, who do not think in rational terms. Several of them believe in the occultation of the ‘Hidden Imam’and actually think ideas like apocalypse are a good thing.
“The question in Iran is who is in ascendance, the less rational individuals or the more rational individuals? If it’s the latter, then we can probably see some positive results coming out of Tehran as well,” said Gorka.
Trump’s ‘Bold, Comprehensive’ Iran Sanctions
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. will apply the toughest sanctions in history in order to squeeze the life out of Iran’s nuclear and territorial ambitions and a former Clinton administration official says the Trump administration is headed in a much better direction than the one charted by the Obama administration.
During a speech Monday morning at the Heritage Foundation, Pompeo made it clear Iran’s belligerent behavior is already resulting in economic pain.
“We will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime. The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness. Thanks to our colleagues at the Department of Treasury, sanctions are going back in full effect and new ones are coming.
“Last week, we imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank and other entities that were funneling money to the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’] Quds Force and were also providing money to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations,” said Pompeo.
Pompeo then elaborated on what new sanctions were coming.
“The sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen to one that rejoins the league of nations,” said Pompeo.
Lawrence J. Haas served as communications director to Vice President Al Gore and was spokesman for the Clinton administration’s Office of Management and Budget. He is now a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and was a frequent critic of the Obama administration’s approach to Iran and Israel.
While eager for more details, Haas says Pompeo’s remarks are a welcome step.
“It’s bold. It’s comprehensive,” said Haas. “In an extremely unpredictable presidency, we do have some consistency here. President Trump has said for a long time that one of the main problems with the Iran nuclear deal is that it wasn’t comprehensive enough.
“That is is only addressed the nuclear program and did not address the other damaging aspects of Iranian behavior: the ballistic missile program that’s tied to the nuclear program, the terror sponsorship, the efforts in the region to destablilize other regimes, the presence in Syria and all the rest,” said Haas.
He says the Trump approach takes all Iranian threats and destructive policies into consideration.
“Here we see a policy that, at least on paper, is broader and does take in all these different aspects of Iranian behavior,” said Haas.
Haas believes Pompeo’s speech was also aimed at our former partners in the Iran nuclear deal, putting Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China on notice that their own economic fortunes could be imperiled if they keep cooperating with Iran. He says that’s easier said than done since the U.S. does not want to ostracize those allies, whom we will need for other international priorities.
However, if Trump can convince those other nations to get on board with the sanctions, it could have a massive impact.
“This could be potentially game-changing,” said Haas.
Pompeo made it clear that Iran will need to reverse course in a host of areas to see sanctions relief. In addition to no enriching of uranium or pre-processing of plutonium, Iran would also have to scrap its missile program, get out of Syria, stop aiding the Houtis in Yemen and end its threats towards Israel.
Haas wonders if the Iranian regime has such a sea change in its DNA, even if were to see the benefits of becoming a responsible government.
“Can this regime do all this and still be true to itself, which is a brutally hostile anti–American, anti-Israeli, expansionist, revolutionary regime?” asked Haas.
Right now, Haas wants to know what the U.S. is willing to do economically and otherwise to keep Iran in check.
“I’m curious to see the specifics of the sanctions and I’m curious to see how the administration follows through on it’s promises to constrain Iranian behavior in the region,” said Haas.
Crippling Iran Sanctions, Gun Control vs. Facts, Blankenship Won’t Go Away
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for inflicting punishing sanctions on Iran, making it clear the Trump administration does not think the Iranian regime can be partners on anything. They also sigh as the gun control movement tries to advance its agenda again after the Santa Fe High School shooting, even though their proposed legislation would have done nothing to prevent this horrific shooting. Jim also asks why so few are interested in finding out why teenage boys are now lashing out and killing people when they are bullied or rejected by girls. And they discuss Don Blankenship’s pathetic attempt to keep running for U.S. Senate in West Virginia despite getting thrashed in the GOP primary and a West Virginia law that prevents losers in primaries from running again in the general election.
Nauert vs. Clueless Cuomo, WH Aide Mocks McCain, Sleazy NY Pols
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert for shredding Chris Cuomo’s suggestion that Iran is suddenly a problem in the Middle East because President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal. They also scold White House communications aide Kelly Sadler for suggesting Sen. John McCain’s opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel didn’t matter because “he’s dying anyway.” And as the media conveniently forget about the scandalous downfall of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just a couple of days after his resignation over allegations of abusing multiple women, Jim notices how a disturbingly high percentage of such scandals involve politicians from New York City.
‘Israel Will Never Accept Iranian Bases on the Border’
Israeli Defense Forces responded to an Iranian missile attack in northern Israel with an immediate barrage against Iran’s command and control infrastructure inside Syria, and a retired Israeli general says he hopes Iran got the message that its meddling near the border will not be tolerated.
Iran fired 20 missiles into Israel. Reports suggest the Iron Dome missile defense system worked well and that no Israeli citizens were injured. On the contrary, reports also suggest Israeli airstrikes did considerable damage to Iranian assets.
“I hope after the lessons they have been taught last night…they will change their attitudes,” said retired Israeli Brigadier Gen. Elihu Ben-Onn. “Israel will never accept any Iranian bases on the border between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. There is no way Israel will accept that from them.”
He says it’s bad enough that Iran already bankrolls and supplies terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas with threaten Israel on a daily basis from Lebanon and Gaza respectively.
Ben-Onn is also not surprised that Israel is being criticized more harshly for the extent of its response than Iran is for initiating the hostilities.
“Unfortunately, whenever we are winning, we are to apologize for that. I don’t know why.
“Those people are a little bit ignorant and don’t understand what it means to live in the Middle East, what kind of enemies we have, what kind of struggles we are facing every day for our security. We are talking about our lives. This is not a movie. This is not cinema. This is not Hollywood,” said Ben-Onn.
“We don’t like the idea that they don’t understand the situation, but we know that we are the good guys and they are the bad guys,” added Ben-Onn.
Ben-Onn is encouraged that Iranian leadership got the message from the Israeli counter-strike.
“Just a couple of minutes ago, I heard that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said he didn’t want to open a new front in the Middle East. That was kind of soft language by the Iranians saying, ‘OK, maybe we tried but we learned our lesson and we’re going to stop this policy,'” said Ben-Onn.
Israel and Iran have never been directly at war. In fact, Ben-Onn says before the Islamic Revolution, the two countries had a productive relationship.
“Before 1979, when (Ayatollah) Khomeini came to power, Israel and Iran had a daily flight from Tel Aviv to Tehran. Many Israeli businesses worked in Iran and built the infrastructure in many fields: agriculture, construction, and they had many good times between the two countries.
“We never had a fight or any conflict. The only conflict is that the Iranians are supporting the enemies on the borders of Israel. The moment they are getting closer to the border and using missiles, this is something the Israeli government will never accept,” said Ben-Onn.
‘Undue Concessions from the West Are Ending’
President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iranian nuclear deal leaves Iranian leaders with the grim realization that the era of endless concessions from the West is over and that their own grip on power continues to slip.
On Tuesday, Trump announced he was exiting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. In the hours since, Iranian officials have alternately vowed to keep honoring the deal with the remaining partners and to exit the JCPOA themselves and begin openly enriching uranium again.
Some official burned a paper American flag inside the Iranian parliament.
“It’s very important to realize that after several decades of appeasing the regime in Tehran…finally we see that the President of the United States is actually declaring that all the lavish money that was made (available) to the regime by the previous administration was actually disastrous,” said Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
The NCRI has played a key role in uncovering details of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. And Jafarzadeh says the contrast in response to Iran from the past two administrations ought to be obvious.
“[Trump] has said [Iran] has funded its long reign of chaos and terror by plundering the wealth of its own people. That is, of course, a sharp contrast with what we have seen before. I think that’s what the regime is sensing,” said Jafarzadeh.
“That era of gaining undue concessions from the outside world, from the West, is actually ending. They were pretty much getting away with everything they were doing and gaining concessions for their terrorism and development of nuclear weapons, and their missile program, all of that,” he added.
Unrest is raging in Iran, mostly over rapidly deteriorating economic conditions. Unemployment is high and so is inflation. Just two weeks ago, Jafarzadeh said the regime was desperate to keep the U.S. in the JCPOA.
Now he says, the pressure inside Iran will intensify.
“The regime was already frightened. They were afraid of their own population, and then comes this new position by the United States that simply adds fuel to the fire that is already burning the regime through the uprisings in Iran.
“The regime’s economy is in shambles. There’s a huge amount of corruption going on. It’s very institutionalized corruption from top to bottom. The regime has not been able to contain its own population, who want nothing but change,” said Jafarzadeh.
Jafarzadeh says the policies and excuses offered by the regime are also falling on deaf ears. He says protesters want Iran out of Syria, chanting slogans such as “Leave alone Syria, think about us” and “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I give my life for Iran.”
Even blaming “The Great Satan” doesn’t work anymore. Jafarzadeh says Iranians in rural areas – typically the places that most strongly support the regime – are chanting lines such as “The enemy is right here, they wrongly say it’s America.”
Jafarzadeh says pressure is clearly building on the regime and that American sanctions will add even more.
“That simply makes things a lot worse. It just gives a picture for the future of the regime, much more bleak than it was before,” he said.
Iran Decision ‘Right and Overdue’
President Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on May 12, citing the ineffectiveness of the agreement in stopping development of a nuclear weapon and announcing tough new economic sanctions to put the pressure back on the Iranian government.
In 2015, President Obama, through then-Secretary of State John Kerry, signed on to the JCPOA without consulting Congress. The stated conclusion of the deal was that the U.S. and five key allies would ease sanctions and return frozen Iranian assets in exchange for Iran allowing international inspections at its admitted nuclear sites.
By labeling the plan an executive agreement rather than a treaty, Obama and Kerry were able to bypass Congress. But they also set the stage for a future president reversing the policy unilaterally.
Obama administration veterans, the media, and America’s partners in the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, are very critical of Trump decision, but he is earning wide praise from most congressional Republicans and conservative policy experts.
“The thing that you’ve got to admire about President Trump is that he makes a decision. He move forward with it. We will deal with it and the rest of the world will deal with this,” said Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney, who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in the Reagan administration, is also very happy with the move.
“I think the decision was both right and overdue. I’m thrilled he has taken this step,” said Gaffney. “It finally denies legitimacy to this heinous regime, which could just mean that the people of Iran are able to achieve freedom as well as us achieving a measure of security that would otherwise be denied us.”
Gaffney points out Iran is not only the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism but has proven it cannot be trusted to honor agreements.
“It has cheated on every agreement that it has participated in. It has pursued weapons of mass destruction. It continuously says that it seeks death to America. It has gotten an enormous amount of money (from the nuclear deal), which it has used to further endanger our interests and those of our friends and allies in the region and beyond,” said Gaffney.
Yoho also cited Iran’s bad faith on the world stage.
“Right after it was agreed to by those entities, not us in Congress, Iran fired ballistic missiles and that was against the clause of exercising good faith and Iran broke that the next day,” said Yoho.
But even if Iran had abided by the terms of the JCPOA, Yoho says there are still terrible flaws, including the gaping holes in the inspections.
“They were supposed to be able to check anywhere, anytime, any place per John Kerry. I was in the hearing when he said that. Then it turned out it was 24 hours notice and (no access) to places like military bases. Those places are off limits. Then we can only inspect those places we know. We can’t inspect places that we may hear of,” said Yoho.
Where Yoho and Gaffney strongly disagree is what should happen once the sanctions put Iran in a vulnerable spot again.
“Let those start to work. Let the dust settle. Then we’ll see how earnest and sincere Iran is, wanting to come to the table and put this nuclear business behind everybody,” said Yoho.
Gaffney believes there should never be a table to return to when it comes to Iran.
“There is clearly no point in having a deal with people who can’t be trusted – not only can’t be trusted but can be trusted to violate any obligation they make,” said Gaffney.
He says the only permanent solution to Iranian nuclear ambitions is for the Iranian people to kick the mullahs to the curb.
“I think the only solution to this is for the people of Iran to remove this regime that enslaves and brutalizes them and threatens us. And I think that is clearly the desire of the people of Iran,” said Gaffney.
“We will end the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon by once and for all seeing this regime removed from power,” added Gaffney.
Iran Desperate for U.S. to Keep Nuke Deal
President Trump’s instinct is to scrap the Iran nuclear deal while French President Emmanuel Macron is willing to amend it but not rescind it without another plan in place, but a leading figure in the Iranian resistance says the deal doesn’t stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons but does help the radical mullahs stay in power.
President Trump has until May 12 to declare whether Iran is in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, and whether the U.S. will remain a party to the seven-nation agreement.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, says despite Tehran’s bluster about exiting the deal if the U.S. does, the Iranian leaders badly need the agreement to continue.
“There’s no way the Iranian regime wants to lose this agreement. They want to do everything possible to keep it, because the regime knows that absent this agreement, there’s really not too many other options left for them,” said Jafarzadeh, who says threats to the contrary are nothing but “hot air.”.
He says that’s because internal unrest is reaching a boiling point.
“The regime is facing tremendous problems domestically, particularly on the economic side of it. We’ve seen the uprising going on since December that were built around the economic corruption in Iran and the high rise in prices for very basic food. Inflation is so high. Inflation is skyrocketing,” said Jafarzadeh.
Iran is clamping down on media outlets and social media, so reports of the ongoing protests are hard to find, but Jafarzadeh says they are still going strong and are appearing in many different parts of the country.
“The protests are continuing ever since they started. It expanded to 142 cities starting back in December,” said Jafarzadeh, listing off a number of cities seeing major protests in the past several days.
“Every week there is a new hot spot in Iran. People are chanting with the same intensity against the regime, making significant demands, none of which the regime can really meet,” said Jafarzadeh.
He says some chants even explicitly scold the government for blaming its problems on America and stating that only the Iranian regime is to blame.
Keeping the deal in place is critical for the Iranian leaders because the money that flowed back into Iran from the agreement has been trumpeted as the solution to Iran’s economic problems.
However, even that good fortune could soon backfire on Iran’s leadership.
“Once the people realize that all the money that was given to the Iranian regime ended up in the pocket of the mullahs, the ayatollahs, and the Revolutionary Guard. It was basically the military structure and the clerical structure that benefited from that.
“Imagine if there’s more pressure built against the regime what kind of political problems it’s going to create for the Iranian regime,” said Jafarzadeh.
The more pertinent issue for Trump, Macron, and other world leaders is whether the JCPOA is actually preventing the advancement of Iran’s nuclear program. Jafarzadeh is convinced it doesn’t.
“The agreement has kept almost all of the nuclear infrastructure of the Iranian regime intact. It has allowed the research and development of more advanced centrifuges that could actually enrich uranium much faster and more efficiently further down the road.
“It hasn’t put any meaningful restrictions on the missile program of the Iranian regime, which is really marching forward with more missile tests on nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. And it has this ridiculous sunset clause. In a few years, all those restrictions on the nuclear program are removed,” said Jafarzadeh.
And he says the hurdles to inspections make enforcement of the existing deal virtually impossible.
“Most importantly, there’s no serious access and inspection of a number of nuclear sites where the core of the nuclear program of Iran is. It’s not just the enrichment but the weaponization part of the program. We exposed at least six nuclear sites we believe need to be inspected,” said Jafarzadeh.
He says the bottom line is the JCPOA doesn’t stop Iran from getting nukes.
“As of now, the current restrictions are not sufficient enough to prevent the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons further down the road,” said Jafarzadeh.
McInerney: Russia Probe Makes Syria Policy Much Tougher
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. General Tom McInerney suspects any response to apparent chemical attacks in Syria may be on hold while the Trump administration tries to build a coalition for any action and he says solving the problem in Syria is much more difficult because partisan sniping over Russia is hampering our ability to find common diplomatic ground with Moscow.
Earlier in the week, reports suggested a military response could come by the end of the week. On Thursday, President Trump made it clear a more deliberate approach may be in the works.
“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!” tweeted Trump.
McInerney says there is likely a very good reason for a delayed response.
“I think his national security advisers have advised him to get a coalition involved with this, to include the UK, French, perhaps the Jordanians, the Egyptians, Israelis, Saudis and Emirates – a coalition of the willing that can represent a very broad front,” said McInerney.
“When you have a coalition like this, it means they’re all in agreement and they’re willing to use their forces. And you have Arab forces. I believe it’s important to use Arab forces,” he said. “It makes us define the problem more.”
McInerney says another critical element is to confirm the chemical attack actually came from the Syrian government.
“We’ve got to confirm with the most precise accuracy that it was the Assad regime that did this. The reason I say that is because Al-Nusra was looking for chlorine stocks a number of months ago and it would be in their interest to want to keep the U.S. involved and for the U.S. to attack the Assad forces,” said McInerney.
He says there may be an easy way to determine blame in this case.
“Was it an airplane with barrel bombs or was it an IED? Because we know the Al-Nusra forces do not have aircraft,” said McInerney, who adds that U.S.-led surveillance ought to provide critical evidence on whether the attack came from the air, although it may take time to comb through the intelligence.
If Assad is responsible, McInerney favors a big response?
“I think we need to eliminate his air force. Is that difficult to do? Yes, it is, because he has moved his forces on Russian bases with Iranians. I’m not worried about killing Iranians. I think they need to be pushed back and of course the Israelis are very concerned about this Shia Crescent that is sweeping across,” said McInerney.
In addition to the Syrians, Russians, and Iranians, U.S. policy must also consider how any action impacts the Kurds, ISIS, the Free Syrian Army and other groups in the area.
McInerney says the complexity of the issue is immense, and he says it’s now far more complicated because of the ongoing Russia probes here in the U.S.
“Because the Democratic Party laid out this false narrative, this fake news about Russian collusion, it has soured the diplomatic relations with the U.S. and Russia. It’s difficult to communicate with them in a reasonable way.
“That’s why the Mueller investigation must be terminated as quickly as possible. Clearly Russia is a great power. Still, it’s got lots of nuclear weapons which concern us. They are modernizing their nuclear forces, and we do not want to let this get out of control,” said McInerney.
McInerney says the region is also more complex as a result of the Obama administration pulling the U.S. out of Iraq entirely and failing to honor the red line it set for chemical weapon use in Syria.
“Unfortunately, because of Obama’s ineptness, he helped create the vacuum that the Russians were able to move in on,” said McInerney.