What Israel Really Thinks About Trump’s Nuclear Talks With Iran. Plus, Did Keith Ellison Fight Fraud or Feed It?
A successful failure: Publicly, Israel has said that the Trump administration could negotiate a "good" deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Privately, our Andrew Tobin reports, the Jewish state's decision makers see the negotiations, which are scheduled to begin today in Oman, as almost certain to end in failure or disaster—so they're hoping for failure, and fast.
Israeli officials, both former and current, agree that the Trump administration has so far taken a tough line against Iran. Some say they understand the logic behind engaging in negotiations before turning to military force. All of them, however, agree that Iran's nuclear program must be eliminated and that negotiations are unlikely to bring that outcome.
Should the negotiations fail, then, Israel can turn to plan B: military action. The disaster would be negotiations that drag out or lead to a deal that allows Iran to remain a nuclear threshold state.
"I don't see a possibility that the Iranians will sincerely agree to get rid of their nuclear program," one senior Israeli official told Tobin. "I sincerely hope and pray—not just for Israel's sake, but also for the sake of the world—that the Americans will quickly realize if they are being played by the Iranians and move to Plan B, which is the best response."
READ MORE: Israeli Leaders Privately Hope for Failure of Trump Negotiations With Iran
Feeding Our Fraud: When federal officials indicted 48 individuals for the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud scheme in September 2022, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison said he was "deeply involved for two years" in holding the fraudsters accountable. Less than a year earlier, though, he sat down with the fraudsters and told them he was "here to help."
That's according to a stunning audio recording first published by the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minnesota think tank. The tape shows Ellison meeting at least two future defendants tied to the scheme in December 2021, a month before an FBI raid shut down the scam. The fraudsters offered financial support for "elected officials that are interested in protecting communities of color" and complained of unfair state scrutiny into their nonprofits and restaurants. Ellison pledged to "fight" alongside them. Days later, some attendees contributed to his reelection campaign.
The news "comes as scores of defendants in the scheme—which saw a cast of mostly Somali immigrants siphon $250 million from the federal child nutrition program during the coronavirus pandemic—await trial," writes the Free Beacon's Collin Anderson. "It also calls into question Ellison's role in fighting the fraud."
Last call in Louisiana: Columbia protest leader and Syrian national Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled.
The Friday order came shortly after the Department of Homeland Security submitted a two-page memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who argued that the Trump administration has broad authority to deport noncitizens whose presence in the country conflicts with the nation's foreign policy interests. Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans agreed, ruling that the administration met the burden to remove Khalil, whose attorneys have roughly two weeks to appeal.
"The ruling sets a precedent for the Trump administration as it ramps up its crackdown of pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic visa-holders," our Jessica Costescu and Jessica Schwalb report. "On Wednesday, Citizenship and Immigration Services began surveilling ‘aliens' anti-semitic activity on social media' to determine their admissibility into the country."
READ MORE: Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported, Judge Rules
Where Main Street meets Wall Street: The Trump administration has defended its tariff policy and the damage it has inflicted by arguing that "what's bad for Wall Street is good for Main Street," writes the Hudson Institute's Mike Watson. And while it's true that the "loudest boosters of Wall Street and Main Street often don't like each other much," for Watson, the country "has flourished when American leaders get them to work together."
Trump and his team … think it’s good that companies all over the world conduct their business in dollars, but they want their governments to pay for that privilege. And Wall Street doesn’t always make good decisions. For example, some funds made a killing building up China’s manufacturing sector, but in the process, they enriched a Communist country and helped turn it into a superpower.
An influential part of the Trump coalition takes that critique too far and cheers on the stock market rout. As they see it, what’s bad for Wall Street is good for Main Street. They seem to believe there are all sorts of companies itching to build expensive new factories without needing to borrow money or sell stock.
Trump’s goal—reversing decades of economic policy—is an ambitious one that will incur significant costs. Even just a trade war with China will likely hurt everyone from Walmart shoppers to Big Pharma. To succeed, he will need to balance the anti-Wall Street part of his party with the need to maintain financial dominance. It’s not an easy task, but the country thrives most when it draws the best from both camps.
READ MORE: Trump at the Intersection of Main Street and Wall Street
Away from the Beacon:
- That'll do it: In an "effort to reach young male listeners," former Kamala Harris aides Gevin Reynolds (a Harvard grad who studied neurobiology) and Dave Cavell (a failed congressional candidate with pronouns in his Instagram bio) are launching a podcast "talking to athletes about their experiences of failure," reports Politico.
- A Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post story on the Trump campaign's purported collusion with Russia, headlined, "Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence," was flat out "wrong," according to former NSA director Mike Rogers.
- Finally, some good news: Prosecutors filed felony charges against 12 Stanford protesters for breaking into and occupying a university building last summer.
Our full Saturday lineup is below. Enjoy your weekend, we're back on Monday.
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