May 25, 2018

It didn't matter what his military advisers said.

It didn't matter what the inspectors said.

It didn't matter what other foreign signatories said.

Donald Trump was going to end the Iran nuclear deal and erase yet another legacy of the Barack Obama presidency.

And he would find a way to do it, even if it meant discrediting any proponents of the deal, like those in Obama's State Department who finalized the negotiations or Trita Parsi, founder of the National Iranian American Council. So that's why Black Cube, a shadowy Israeli private security/investigation firm was hired to dig up dirt on Parsi, Ben Rhodes, and Colin Kahl, among others.

And as NBC News' Richard Engel reports exclusively, a member of Black Cube tells us that it was very clear they were hired specifically at the behest of Team Trump:

Black Cube’s political work frequently intersects with Israel’s foreign policy priorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has campaigned vociferously against the Iran deal.

“They would never work against Israeli interests,” said the source who was familiar with Black Cube's Iran work. He likened the firm to an “almost privatized wing of Mossad.”

He also suggested there was little chance that the Israeli government or its intelligence agencies were unaware of Black Cube’s work to discredit the Iran deal.

The same source said the Iran operation was launched just days after President Donald Trump visited Israel in May 2017. The source said he was told that the work was being carried out “for Trump,” but there is no evidence that the Trump administration had anything to do with the operation, which may have been commissioned by an outside group or agency with no connection to the administration. The identity of Black Cube’s client on the Iran work remains a mystery.

Every day, there's just another level of foreign collusion to make this country less safe. Thanks, MAGA-heads.

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