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Did the Muslim Brotherhood prop a slander dossier on Phares? (Part 2)
By Dr Walid Phares
Jun 12, 2020 - 11:06:41 AM

Part two of the rebuttal of the NYTimes hit piece against Dr Walid Phares,highlighting how the Muslim Brotherhood agenda was used to harass the analyst via the so-called Mueller probe. The Times clearly showed its defense of the Ikhwan as a base of its smear of the analyst.

Did the Muslim Brotherhood prop a slander dossier on Phares?

In this part two of our rebuttal of the NYTimes hit piece against Dr Walid Phares, we highlight how the Muslim Brotherhood agenda was used to harass the analyst via the so-called Mueller probe. The Times clearly showed its defense of the Ikhwan as a base of its smear of the analyst.

NYTimes wote: The Obama administration had been critical of the Egyptian government, accusing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s administration of arbitrary killings and politically motivated arrests in a crackdown on freedom of expression after he seized power in a military takeover. Forging new ties with Mr. Trump, who seemed less concerned with the country’s human right’s record, would have benefited Mr. el-Sisi both politically and militarily.

Here is a key paragraph revealing the NYTimes’ goal behind the hit piece. The paper has been a vocal critic of the el-Sisi Government, after having praised the Muslim Brotherhood regime (supported by the Obama administration), for years. It also shows that the Obama administration may have ordered spying on Dr. Phares because he was an Ikhwan critic, anti-Iran deal, and yes, also a Trump advisor.

NYTimes: Hints of the investigation into Mr. Phares have emerged in redacted special counsel documents and in F.B.I. interview notes obtained by BuzzFeed News in an open records lawsuit.

If indeed Dr. Phares was targeted by the Mueller Probe, he was never informed of that fact. Like all Trump officials, he has testified to Congress and was interviewed by the Mueller team, on Trump’s foreign policy, but supposedly only as a witness like many other advisors. We know Mueller and company were not above deception, but if Dr. Phares had indeed been a target, he and his attorney should have been notified. They weren’t, so these speculations are doubtful.

NYTimes: CNN also sued for the records. Mr. Phares had high-level contacts in the Egyptian government and connections to a deputy minister for education, another Trump campaign official, Sam Clovis, told Mr. Mueller’s investigators.

Of course, Dr. Phares has high-level contacts in the Egyptian government. He had these contacts many years before joining the Trump campaign. He knows ministers, members of parliament, defense officials, counter terrorism officials, and has been giving lectures to Egyptian officers under the Defense Intelligence Agency for years. But he never knew a deputy minister for education. His relationships are open and indicative of academic recognition.

NYTimes writes: Mr. Phares told Mr. Clovis that he had friends who could broker meetings between the campaign and the Egyptian government, but Mr. Clovis rejected that idea, he said. Mr. Clovis and Mr. Phares had met with an Egyptian official at a hotel in Georgetown, according to Mr. Clovis, who could not recall the man’s name for investigators. Mr. Phares tried to set up another meeting with the official, but Mr. Clovis demurred.

Wrong yet again: There was no meeting between Clovis, Phares and an “Egyptian official.” They had dinner with an Egyptian travel agent, and not in Georgetown, but Virginia. There was no need to broker a meeting between the campaign and Egyptian officials as the campaign was meeting with the Egyptian ambassador and many other diplomats at their requests, as was the Clinton campaign. When President el-Sisi visited the UN in 2016, he met with both campaigns. Obviously, one of the primary functions of foreign policy advisors is to explain the platform of the campaign when sought out by diplomats.

NYTimes: Another campaign official, Rick Dearborn, told investigators that Mr. Phares was involved in reaching out to Egypt on behalf of the campaign and had an “existing relationship” with the Egyptians.

Of course, Dr Phares has an “existing relationship with the Egyptians.” He has been meeting with their MPs since 2013 and has appeared on Egyptian TV and been interviewed in their press for years. His analysis is very popular in Egypt – except among the Jihadists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Phares has met a large number of Egyptian MPs and politicians during the campaign, many of whom knew him from earlier years. The Brotherhood continues to be promoted by NYTimes writers who apparently fail to understand why it was rejected by the Egyptian people.

NYTimes: Then the Republican nominee for president, Mr. Trump met in September 2016 with Mr. el-Sisi. Mr. Phares took credit for that meeting, telling Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka in an email shortly beforehand that he had traveled to “Egypt last week, worked with them on the meeting between President Sisi and your father.” “Great that the meeting will take place tomorrow,” Mr. Phares added in the email, according to congressional investigators. “This is a major victory in foreign policy. It will generate more votes.”

Dr. Phares was in touch with Mrs. Ivanka Trump as well as with other officials throughout the campaign and gave them briefings and his assessments on many topics. But this portion of the article raises more pressing questions: Who stole Dr. Phares’ personal emails to Ivanka Trump? Who was spying on him? Or were they spying on Mrs. Trump? And who leaked this email? Nevertheless, what is described is a very normal part of his portfolio. As to take credit, Phares was the first one to suggest such public meeting in the media, in order to help Mr Trump show international credibility. Clinton advisors did the same.

NY Times: The special counsel’s report mentioned Mr. Phares by name more than a dozen times. At least one blacked-out portion of the report also makes reference to Mr. Phares, according to people familiar with the redacted text.

In March 2017, Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman at the time of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed to the White House Counsel’s Office that Mr. Phares was being investigated, according to notes taken by an official at the time.

Again, these are New York Times allegations based on “unnamed sources.” It is unsurprising that Special Council Mueller was investigating Dr. Phares for no relevant cause except for Obama policy related issues, as we now know the entire investigation was not properly predicated. The truth is, they never had a reason to open any of their investigations on Trump campaign officials, but they did it anyway.

According to Lee Smith, the Obama administration began spying on opponents of the Iran Deal years earlier. Dr. Phares was one such prominent opponent. This raises an additional troubling question: Could the FBI and/or CIA have been spying on Dr. Phares before he joined the Trump campaign because of Obama’s interests in the Iran Deal? It certainly seems probable.

This New York Times hit piece, like previous pieces this year, has certain, precise political goals. Dr. Phares did not serve in the Transition or in the Administration. So, why these attacks and why now?

First, because hostile foreign actors want to discredit Dr. Phares because of his ongoing commentary in defense of the Trump administration in the media – both in the US and worldwide. The Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, and the Iranian regime consider him a major influential voice in America and resent his many books and articles exposing their ideologies and strategies. Due to Dr. Phares’ many media appearances, he presents a major challenge to their interests in the region.

In 2011 and again in 2016, after he was appointed as a foreign policy advisor to presidential candidates, Dr. Phares was subjected to a barrage of smear attacks and hit pieces by sympathizers of the Iranian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Mother Jones, CAIR, the Daily Beast and eventually the Washington Post. The only reason for such attacks was to prevent the worst-case scenario for those hostile foreign governments: Dr. Phares’ appointment into the Administration. This time around, Dr. Phares is not even serving as a campaign advisor, but the mere possibility that he could join a second Trump Administration in 2021 has apparently unleashed the same gang of propagandists to attack him again. Though these attacks attempt to promote a negative view of the political analyst, they also serve to highlight the effective strategic analysis Dr. Phares provides every day, not only in the United States, but around the globe.

Pro Iran regime and Ikhwan circles have been alienated by Dr Phares strong and strategic support to the Arab-US Coalition and his calls to strengthen all countries and societies confronting terrorism and extremism. That’s the bottom line of the matter. And they have been targeting him for years if not decades. Their main aim is to cut him off from any public office in the US.

There is now a spreading awareness among the public about the dark forces operating throughout the US media. China is not the only country engaging in influence operations in the United States. Iran and Qatar are up to their necks in dirty politics here too. Unfortunately, major media organizations like the New York Times are among the most willing collaborators.

By: Rebecca Bynum LEVANT

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