John Bolton, Friend of Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                      

                                Bolton in 2023,  soon to be 77 years old, a Yale graduate, born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Virginia Clara "Ginny" (née Godfrey), a housewife, and Edward Jackson "Jack" Bolton, a Baltimore fireman.He grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Yale Heights, and won a scholarship to the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland, graduating in 1966.

Our friend, while out of his home by 7am, was just invaded by the FBI when only his wife was home. The is the 2nd time his home has been searched for anything that can prove something.  It was pictured by CNN who did the morning story. "FBI agents raided the Maryland home and Washington, DC office of President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton Friday morning in a high-profile national security probe involving classified documents."  " Trump’s former national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump told reporters he knows “nothing” about the probe but expects to be briefed later today.

The FBI conducted a court-authorized search at former Trump national security advisor John Bolton’s home as part of a national security investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. CNN's Kate Bolduan talks to former FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe about why this search may have happened. The investigation is focused on the potential criminal release of classified information, the source added. An FBI spokesperson confirmed "court authorized activity" in the area of Bolton's home in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. (Reuters) 

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United States national security advisor from 2018 to 2019. He has been involved with every aspect of American politics that one can imagine, a man knowing all our history.

   Bolton greeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August 2018  

Bolton is known for his strong support for Israel. Bolton opposes the two-state solution of creating an independent Palestinian state alongside the existing state of Israel. Bolton supported moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in accordance with the Jerusalem Embassy Act, and he testified in front of Congress in 2017 on the matter.                                       

    Bolton with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in August 2018

 In 2010, Bolton co-founded the Friends of Israel Initiative with 12 other international figures.

President Trump, joined by Bolton and Netanyahu behind, signs the proclamation recognizing Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, March 25, 2019.

Bolton supports what he calls the "Three State Solution" in order to determine the political status of Gaza and the West Bank. Under Bolton's Three State Solution, Israel would annex settlements it has built in the West Bank since the conclusion of the Six-Days War in 1967, Egypt would annex and administer the Gaza Strip, and Jordan would annex and administer the remaining portion of the West Bank not annexed by Israel. Bolton's Three State proposal would not result in the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Bolton opposed the 2023 Gaza war ceasefire. In December 2023, he proposed resettling Palestinians from Gaza. In April 2024, Bolton said that the Gaza war "is an Iranian war against Israel, fought through terrorist proxies", and the only way to end the suffering of the people of Gaza "is to eliminate Hamas, which is the cause of the suffering."

Resource:

CNN: 

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-administration-redistricting-08-22-25

Reuters:  

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-agents-search-trump-critic-boltons-home-latest-move-against-rival-2025-08-22/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bolton

Richard Goldberg On America's Iran Position 's Changed For The Worst in Vienna

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

  No wonder former national-security official, Richard Goldberg called the new Iran agreement “The Worst Deal in History.”the Biden strategy—led by U.S. Iran envoy Robert Malley—promises to make the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, even more terrifying.                    

Richard Goldberg has the background to say such a thing.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Master's in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve with prior service in Afghanistan. Goldberg has served as an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve since 2006, and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. This included  assignments as a Navy Watch Officer in the Pentagon’s command center, Chief of Counterintelligence Threats for a reserve unit supporting U.S. European Command, and Senior Intelligence Officer for an electronic attack squadron deployed to Afghanistan.

From 2004 to 2014, he worked on Capitol Hill, serving as deputy chief of staff and senior foreign policy adviser to former U.S. Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. As a staffer for former Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., Goldberg helped write legislation that served as the basis for the Barack Obama administration’s sanctions regime on Tehran prior to the nuclear deal. He went on to work for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates maximum pressure on Iran.

From 2015 to 2017, he served as deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs and later chief of staff for Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. .

 From 2019-2020,during Trump's 4 years,  Richard served as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the White House National Security Council.  Rich previously served on the White House National Security Council and led the Trump administration’s efforts to counter Iranian weapons of mass destruction. 

He has the background for such a position.  As a staff associate for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, Richard worked on a wide range of issues related to U.S. foreign assistance, including foreign military financing, international security assistance, international peacekeeping, development, global health and economic support funds. He was a founding staff director of the House U.S.-China Working Group and was among the first Americans ever to visit China’s human space launch center. 

A leader in efforts to expand U.S. missile defense cooperation with Israel, Richard played a key role in U.S. funding for the Arrow-3 program, Iron Dome and the deployment of an advanced missile defense radar to the Negev Desert.Goldberg was also a leading FDD ideologue on the Israel-Palestine conflict. One of his first op-eds after joining FDD attacked the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a favorite target for the Israeli right and its supporters. “If President Trump wants to use his financial leverage at the United Nations to strike at the heart of the anti-America, anti-Israel institutional infrastructure, he should look no further than the agency responsible for Palestinian refugees: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency,” Goldberg wrote.

He urged President Trump to establish a definition of Palestinian refugees, limiting the term to those who were displaced in 1948, which is at odds with the Palestinian definition. He recommended “formally adopting a definition for Palestinian refugees that makes a clear distinction between refugees displaced by the 1948 war and their descendants.”

In July 2018, Goldberg and his FDD colleague Jonathan Schanzer called the issue of Palestinian refugees a “scam” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The pair based this assertion on their preferred definition of refugees, which would only include the approximately 30,000 surviving Palestinians from 1948. The common figure of around five million refugees would be “exposed,” according to Goldberg and Schanzer. They further argue that this would fatally undermine UNRWA and would be “the most pro-Palestinian step an American president could take.” They argued that President Trump “can send a clear message to the millions living in Unrwa (sic) camps: Your leaders want to keep you in squalor, while America wants you to prosper.”

In the Senate, Richard emerged as a leading architect of the toughest sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran. An Iran hawk, Richard Goldberg played an instrumental role in the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. His position was created by John Bolton, National Security Advisor.  

 He was the lead Republican negotiator for three rounds of sanctions targeting the Central Bank of Iran, the SWIFT financial messaging service, and entire sectors of the Iranian economy. Richard also drafted and negotiated legislation promoting human rights and democracy in Iran, including sanctions targeting entities that provide the Iranian regime with the tools of repression.                 

His Iran sanctions work was featured in the book, The Iran Wars.

With our new president, Joe Biden, Goldberg's efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ability  have found their way into the round file, evidently.

Trump had quit a deal between the US, its European allies, and Iran and said he's going to hit Iran with the toughest economic sanctions he can.

What it means:  In 2015, the US, along with its main European allies, including the UK and France, plus Russia and China, signed a deal with Iran. The deal promised to lift economic sanctions – a form of economic penalty, placed on one country by an other, if it disapproves of its behaviour. They can be things like trade barriers or tariffs, which can hurt a country's industry – if Iran curbed its nuclear development program.

According to the Guardian, the deal led to a rapid reduction in Iran’s nuclear programme. It reduced its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% to just 300lbs, not enough to make one bomb. But Trump's said the deal's failed, that it hasn't led to peace and that he is going to come down hard on Iran.

Although the other European countries involved are pretty desperate to keep the deal (politicians from France, Germany and the UK have all been in the US in the past few weeks to try and persuade Trump to stick to it) they're now going to have to fight pretty hard to keep it standing. One analyst said that with economic sanctions imposed from the US, global companies could leave Iran, further damaging its industry.                    

Goldberg had pushed the Trump administration to exit the nuclear deal even as former officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, urged the president to remain in the accord. Trump has since replaced them with Iran hawks Mike Pompeo and John Bolton. Goldberg’s appointment signals that the president still favors a more hawkish posture on Iran, despite his recent decision to pull US troops out of Syria and his assertion that Iran “can do what they want” in the war-wracked country.

 "Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. (IRGC) launched 14 missiles that landed near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, northern Iraq—though strangely the IRGC said it was aiming for an unspecified Israeli “strategic center.”

Nonetheless the Biden administration continues 

negotiations with Iran in Vienna—meant to reward 

Iran with a $90 billion “signing 

bonus” and a clear path to nuclear weapons".

Goldberg's comments can be heard below.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vWHkdJjaxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYIdBIqwHa0

Many Americans should realize by now that Iran's intentions on having nuclear weapons is to wipe out Israel.  Richard, in defending Israel against Iran,  sees the problems that are so obvious.  Sadly, his opinions are being overridden by our American president, Biden.  

His grandfather, David Goldberg, should be very proud of him, nevertheless.     

Resource:

https://www.factsandlogic.org/as-iran-missiles-attack-us-consulate-biden-desperately-rushes-to-sign-nuclear-deal/?fbclid=IwAR0KubFG9FP_ajIkThoFFSTvYcutFydFMdaflAOTtv9_ZZv09_pvuu6UGl8#.Yjdl_DhMtL4.facebook

https://jewishinsider.com/authors/richard-goldberg/

https://www.amazon.com/Iran-Wars-Battles-Secret-Reshaped-ebook/dp/B00RRT34MS

https://www.ecnmy.org/engage/donald-trump-just-backed-iran-nuclear-deal/?gclid=CjwKCAjwoduRBhA4EiwACL5RP9NZXbV31uukwYsx2IhsXI2mBceQeQ1OSaZ9SUcggFpY0txdf8N_iBoCjAMQAvD_BwE

https://www.jns.org/iran-director-leaving-white-house-national-security-council-after-one-year/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-goldberg-34a5391a0

https://militarist-monitor.org/profile/richard-goldberg/

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2019/01/intel-white-house-nsc-richard-goldberg-iran-policy.html#ixzz7O6QMa88B

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2019/01/intel-white-house-nsc-richard-goldberg-iran-policy.html#ixzz7O6qUZWsj

Obama's Democrat Administration's Threats to Israel Six Years Ago

 Nadene Goldfoot

Adopted from Leslie Susser's article                  

In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk to the motorcade on the South Lawn of the White House for departure en route to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, for a St. Patrick’s Day lunch, March 17, 2015..

Looking back 6 years ago, when Obama was the Democrat's President from January 20, 2009 with Joseph Biden as Vice President to his 2nd term ending in January 2017 with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State which brings  trepidation to many of us Israel supporters, Israel was  thought to be on a collision course with the USA over the Palestinians.  The US wasn't shy with some well-orchestrated unprecedentedly blunt public statements of warning Israel of the consequences of a policy they thought was leading to a single Israeli-Palestinian state under their control.  They thought Israel would not be able to be both Jewish and Democratic and that it would be internationally reviled.  They were sure the US would be powerless to do much about that. 

    Warning of Iran's potential capabilities with uranium and mindset.        

                             

 

Benjamin Netanyahu was the Prime Minister of Israel in those days from March 31, 2009 from the Likud Party.  He had also been the Prime Minister previously from 1996 to 1999 and is a true Sabra-born in Israel.  He's the longest serving PM Israel has ever had. He's also bilingual in English and Hebrew, a brilliant speaker in both languages topping even Obama in my opinion.  No one in Israel is a couch potato when it comes to voting.  All people serve in the IDF, all realizing the dangers citizens are in.  Israel also has a very high rate of literacy, so there are no fools, but there are many on the left as there are on the right.  When it comes to their prime minister, they usually have voted for the person who is most likely to keep them all alive.   

The USA in the bleakest of terms were sure that it would mean that a one-state reality dominated by Israel would leave the Palestinians in trouble.  They painted a picture of endemic violence and severe economic costs for both the Palestinian underclass who in their opinion, would be without equal rights that were struggling to be free and for Israel.  Obama's government feared the imminent collapse of the Palestinian authority, called the PA in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and leave Israel facing a huge security and economic burden.  The USA were Israel's pained counsel of deeply concerned friends using harsh pejorative terms.  

This caused Israel to ask themselves for how long and to what extent would America remain supportive if the government persisted with its current policies and under what circumstances would American support for Israel start to crack?  

There was the military aid to consider of $40 to $50 billion in a package for a 10 year period of 2017 to 2027 that needed to be signed by President Barack Obama before he left office.  Now Washington held this new more critical tone suggesting diplomatic fissures which could quickly widen leaving Israel exposed to inimical international diplomatic and economic initiatives.  

As it turned out, Obama did not sign the UN position of support of Israel on his last day in office, something unlike the USA to do.  John Bolton wrote on Dec. 26th:  "Last Friday, on the eve of Hanukkah and Christmas, Barack Obama stabbed Israel in the front. The departing president refused to veto United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334—a measure ostensibly about Israeli settlement policy, but clearly intended to tip the peace process toward the Palestinians. Its adoption wasn’t pretty. But, sadly, it was predictable. This was done by Samantha Powers.  "He had showed much contention with Netanyahu, even having Netanyahu to enter the White House by the back door when in town on meetings one time with his team.   

The turning point had been with US Secretary of State's John Kerry.  He had made a late November visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah with the aim to put a damper on Palestinian violence and   to rebuild trust between the parties.  His plan was to have Netanyahu make economic concessions to the Palestinians.  He expected Abbas to take action to end his Palestinian incitement and terror against Israel in return for this.  Kerry expected this to lead to conditions for re-engagement on a 2-state solution.  

Netanyahu had suggested economic moves to help the Palestinians in a meeting with Obama in early November in Washington.  Abbas refused to go along with Kerry's plan.  20 months later, Kerry left the region deeply dismayed and decided to ratchet up the warning rhetoric.  One week later, Kerry was at the 2015 Saban Forum sponsored by the Brookings Institution in Washington and told the gathering that he found Abbas so despondent and that he felt hopelessness because of the failure to deliver on the peace process and that the PA was in serious danger of collapse.  

Mahmoud Abbas, also known by the kunya Abu Mazen, is the president of the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority. He has been the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 11 November 2004, and Palestinian president since 15 January 2005.  It's now January 2021-president for the past 16 years and 85 years old.  Like the old sayings, He's in like Flynn.  Not to worry.  

Kerry said this would cause horrible consequences for Israel, leaving the door open to ISIS (Daesh) and jihad and Hamas who could all take over.  He also spoke of the 30,000 Palestinian security forces who maintained order and would no longer be around.  He said that then the IDF could be forced to deploy 10s of thousands of soldiers to Judea and Samaria and how bad this would be for the soldier's children and grandchildren  He then spoke of the financial costs to Israel and how much they needed the PA.  Israel would be forced to pay for basic services.  (Israel had been paying for their electricity for years without any compensation).  They would have to maintain their schools, hospitals, law and order that covers a billion dollars a year in assistance and another billion in development-related assistance for Judea-Samaria?

Kerry painted a picture alluding to the apartheid word.  Kerry followed up his devastating critique in the December issue of THE NEW YORKER. What he was doing was showing Israel a shift in official American thinking on Israel.

Obama then delivered a similar message in a lower key.  He told Israel's President Rivlin that it difficult for him to block international peace efforts Israel had opposed.  Where the US had traditionally shielded Israel, there were now holes in the plans. Preceding Obama had been George Walker Bush, a Republican president.   Peace plans were now being worked on by France and New Zealand for submission to the UN Security Council that might escape a US veto-unless Israel played along with the US.                                 

           Samantha Powers abstaining-a move against Israel.  

Samantha Powers was Washington's UN ambassador who also joined Kerry in his tough talk to Israel.  She argued that continued settlement raised questions about Israel's long-term objectives and excoriated both Israeli and Palestinian leaderships for lack of commitment from either side to bring about peace.  She wanted a 2 state solution NOW.  

The worry was that Democrat Hillary Clinton would be no different if elected.   She wasn't different at all.  Her statement warned that if the PA collapsed, the alternative could be the black flag of ISIS.  Then she praised Abbas for his stalwart commitment to security cooperation with Israel and insisted that he was the best option around.  She was ready to take the US-Israel relationship to the next level-whatever that meant.  

What she seemed to be doing was saying that she expected a different Israeli government to agree with her and would get rewarded for doing so.  

Somehow, Israel has managed to do very well with Trump's Republican attitude, in fact much better.  The Abrahamic Initiative has brought in 4 countries that have made peace with Israel with Jared Kushner's advice without threats to Israel.  ISIS seems to be contained or stopped and is not the worry;  Iran is.  Iran continues to threaten Israel with their possible atomic warheads in missiles that could reach both the USA and Israel who is so much closer.  Yet the USA never did see the danger with them.  Kerry thought the plan was great.  The fear now is that Biden will again sign on and trust Iran.  

Who knows what is best for both Israel and the Palestinians?  One has to understand the motivation and differences in both peoples.  No one knows better than Israel does.  No one knows what has been going on daily to the Israelis caused by the Palestinians than he does. 

 Israel's original plan was to live in peace with the Arabs but have been stymied by their attitudes and actions for the past over 73 years, but hope looks like it's on the horizon through the Abrahamic Accords and this change towards Israel.  it took some time to build up hatred towards Israel where people were conditioned from birth to do so, and now it's taking time to change.  Have White Americans changed their feelings towards Blacks since the Civil War yet?  That happened over 157 years ago and Blacks feel forced to remind Whites that Black lives matter.  A lot of conditioning has to change. Religious differences have always brought out more violence against Jews from Christians and Muslims than racial differences in the USA, except maybe the Watts riots in California.  

John Bolton had continued to write that  the White House has abandoned any pretense that the actual parties to the conflict must resolve their differences. Instead, the president has essentially endorsed the Palestinian politico-legal narrative about territory formerly under League of Nations’ mandate, but not already under Israeli control after the 1948-49 war of independence.  In other words, he's gone along with the Palestinian narrative!  

When I think of all the moves Israel has taken to make peace with the Palestinians, it makes my head throb.  The Palestinians have had one goal-to put an end to Israel and take it over for themselves.  The reason they have succeeded as much as they have is because they've had the backing of all the Muslim countries surrounding Israel.  But this is changing.  The Palestinians themselves are tired of such a game.  Israel does not one a one state solution with millions of Arab citizens, either.  It's a Jewish state, the only one in the world.  There are at least 48 Muslim majority states already in the world as it is.  

Europe has kicked Jews around throughout history and didn't help all that much during the Holocaust when 6 million Jews were slaughtered and too many Europeans were only too willing to aid and abet the Nazis in doing the evil deed.  They've been only too eager to attack and blame Jews.  it's time they listened to what Israel has to say about a problem only Israel is suffering under and has been since before 1948. They haven't been successful in keeping Jews safe in their countries.  Look at France and Sweden!  

                 Leslie Susser of Hebrew University in Jerusalem   Leslie Susser who also wrote for Jewish Telegraph Agency in 2011, educated at Hebrew University and Oxford in England.

  

Resource: The Jerusalem Report of January 11, 2016-ON A COLLISION COURSE by Leslie Susser :

 SUSSER-Leslie. 67, on December 11, 2004. Beloved father of Elizabeth, Andrew, Robert and Philip. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and devoted friend Robin Schiff. Services Monday, December 13, 11:45 am, at ``The Riverside,'' 76 Street and Amsterdam Avenue. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the American Brain Tumor Association, 2720 River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018; 800-886-2282.  Since this person died before the article was written, he may be his father or uncle.  

https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/on-a-collision-course-438338

https://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-parting-betrayal-of-israel-1482795616

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu

Continuing Russian Probe in Election From 2015 to 2020-Trump and Elections Report Card

Nadene Goldfoot                                         
                                                                       

President Donald Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner

Donald Trump took office on January 20, 1917.  

His business was that of a hotel owner, owning international hotels in Chicago, Honolulu, New York City, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Washington D.C.  He has always been a businessman, not a politician.                             
                                             

Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. 

         He was not alone in business.  He was part of the Trump Organizaion.  The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. About 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1923 by Donald Trump's grandmother, Elizabeth Christ Trump, and father, Fred Trump, as E. Trump & Son.  Donald was one of the heirs of his father's finances.  
We can't forget that Trump had his own TV shows, like The Apprentice-"You're fired!"  That's carried over in firing Democrats.                               

When a young Trump went to Russia

In 1987, Trump visited Russia to investigate developing a hotel, invited by Ambassador Yuri Dubinin whom he had met in New York the year before. British journalist Luke Harding alleged in 2017 that this trip likely began a long-term cultivation operation typical of the KGB's Political Intelligence Department, under written directives initiated by First Chief Directorate head Vladimir Kryuchkov, to recruit politically ambitious Westerners susceptible to flattery, egotism and greed. 

"In 2004, prominent New York real estate developer Donald Trump proposed a $200 million luxury hotel-condominium development at 26th Street and Camelback Road in the highly upscale Camelback Corridor (near the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and the Biltmore Fashion Park shopping center) of Phoenix."

"As of December 21, 2005, the project was cancelled and Trump withdrew his association with the project when the City Council succumbed to intense neighborhood opposition and a looming referendum fight (over 19,000 local residents signed the petition against increasing the height limit, many citing fears of the area developing too rapidly). Other developers such as shopping center owner Westcor were forced to radically change similar proposals as a result."  Such was the life of real estate developer and hotel owner, Donald Trump.  

He had owned hotels through the Trump Organization in other countries, such as:  

• Trump Tower at City Center, White Plains, New York
• Trump Towers, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
• Trump Tower Kolkata, Kolkata, India
• Trump Tower Manila (Philippines)
• Trump Towers Istanbul, Turkey
• Trump Towers Pune, India

In 2015 he had signed on for buying a luxury hotel in Russia.  When he became president he had to turn over his assets to his family members of the Trump Organization.  

"Trump signed a nonbinding "letter of intent" dated October 13, 2015, to proceed with the project. The letter, also signed by Russian investor Andrei Rozov, was forwarded to Cohen by Russian-American real estate developer Felix Sater, who had worked with The Trump Organization on prior deals, including Trump SoHo and Trump International Hotel & Residence." 

"The Trump Organization pursued a luxury hotel and condominium project in Moscow—dubbed the Trump Tower Moscow—during the Trump presidential campaign. This project was facilitated by Michael Cohen, then an attorney for the Trump Organization, and from January 2017 to May 2018 became Trump's personal attorney."
                                                                             
"As early as spring 2015, American intelligence agencies started overhearing conversations in which Russian government officials, some within the Kremlin, discussed associates of Trump, then a presidential candidate."  Our government was thus taping;  wire tapping   conversations from Russians in Russia or outside,  about people working for Trump.  This is "NSA warrantless surveillance which refers to the surveillance of persons within the United States, including United States citizens, during the collection of nationally foreign intelligence by the National Security Agency as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program

"From the beginning of his presidency Trump had requested assurances that he was not personally under investigation. FBI Director Comey told him so privately on three occasions but refused to make a public comment to that effect. In his letter dismissing Comey, Trump thanked Comey for "informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation". Comey later confirmed that this was true."  So Comey lied to Trump.  

"The Steele dossier asserted that Trump attorney Michael Cohen in August 2016 had a clandestine meeting with Kremlin representatives in Prague. Cohen has stated he has never been to Prague, inviting investigators to examine his passport. McClatchy reported on April 13, 2018, that Mueller's investigators have evidence that in August or early September 2016 Cohen traveled to Prague by way of Germany. Such a trip would not have required a passport as Germany and the Czech Republic are in the Schengen Area which has abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. On April 14, 2018, Cohen again denied he had ever been to Prague, although weeks after the 2016 election he had told journalist David Corn he had been in Prague fourteen years earlier. McClatchy reported in December 2018 that a mobile phone traced to Cohen had "pinged" cellphone towers around Prague in late summer 2016. McClatchy also reported that during that time an eastern European intelligence agency had intercepted communications between Russians, one of whom mentioned that Cohen was in Prague. The Mueller Report did not conclude Cohen had been in Prague, citing his testimony to investigators."

The Steele Dossier was compiled by Christopher Steele who was hired and paid by The DNC (Democratic National Committee),  and the Hillary Clinton campaign.  He authored a dossier that claims Russia collected a file of compromising information on U.S. President Donald Trump)."

They paid Steele over $160,000 through the law firm, Perkins Cole and a research firm, Fusion GPS.  (Fusion GPS is a commercial research and strategic intelligence firm based in Washington, D.C. The company conducts open-source investigations and provides research and strategic advice for businesses, law firms and investors, as well as for political inquiries, such as opposition research.   The "GPS" initialism is derived from "global research, political analysis, strategic insight.)   Steele was to dig for dirt on Donald Trump and to find Trump's ties to Russia.  The FISA application left out the facts about Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson of the law firm Perkins Cole and their connections with the DNC and the Clinton campaign.  The FBI had also authorized payment to Steele for this same information.  He was double-dipping!  

They mislead the readers of the FISA application by including Michael Isikoff's article in the Yahoo News article about Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow.  The facts of the article had been given by  Christopher Steele himself to Yahoo News and evidently Michael Isikoff quoted it without revealing his resource.  This was a real planting of false evidence!
                                                 

State Delegation Votes 2016 for Republicans

"The Special Counsel investigation was an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, alleged links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and possible obstruction of justice by Trump, conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019. It was also called the Russia investigation, the Mueller probe, and the Mueller investigation. Prior to the appointment of the Special Counsel, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been, starting in July 2016, covertly investigating activities by Russian operatives and by members of the Trump presidential campaign, under the code name "Crossfire Hurricane".The investigation culminated with the Mueller Report which concluded that — though the Trump campaign welcomed Russian interference and expected to benefit from it — there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy charges against Trump or his associates. The Report did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice, citing a Justice Department guideline that prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president."

"In February 2019, McCabe, since fired from the FBI, confirmed he launched the obstruction of justice investigation for those reasons, and gave additional reasons such as 
1. Trump's multiple depictions of the investigation into Trump associates and Russia as a "witch hunt", as well as 
2. Trump allegedly telling Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to mention the Russia probe in Rosenstein's memo to recommend firing Comey, and 
3. Trump's comments to the Russian ambassador and NBC relating Comey's firing to the Russia probe."

Impeachment by the Democrats came about on September 24, 2019.  September 24, 2019: After Nancy Pelosi formally announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump,  several opinion polls reflected an increase in support for an impeachment inquiry. According to a Morning Consult poll, 43% of Americans support impeachment proceedings, a 7-point increase, tying with Americans who do not support such proceedings. Additionally, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed support for an impeachment inquiry into Trump at 49%, while 46% opposed.    " It was chiefly a transactional approach to policies in Ukraine that gave the Democrats in Congress the fuel to impeach Trump.

Trump is not a politician.  He has made errors; errors in speech as well in decisions.  What one must do is list all the things he has done and those he has messed up and weigh them.  Each person seems to have their preferable list of accomplishments or failures from this man.  We know his failngs and his special qualities.  We are not sure of Biden's.  Biden is a politician.   

• People have come and gone in his administration.  "Fired” may be a little strong, but in 2018, top national security officials handling pandemics left abruptly and were not replaced by the Trump administration.  May 18 saw Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer leave his post on health from National Security Council who had been under Obama. John Bolton reorganized this global health team with Tom Bossert wanting strong defenses against biological warfare, who was pushed out by Bolton in 2018.  There was no replacement of Tom Bossert, and no COVID 19 appearing at this time.  
   
• As for funding, there’s no question that the Trump administration sought to cut key CDC budget categories. But thanks to Congress, that funding was restored and even increased in bills that Trump ultimately signed." By November 19, a mixed group of lawmakers, Dem. and Rep., wanted it restored, so a letter was sent requesting a new appointment to NSC. Evidently, it couldn't be done.  "The fact that they explicitly dismantled the office in the White House that was tasked with preparing for exactly this kind of a risk is hugely concerning," Jeremy Konyndyk, who ran foreign disaster assistance in the Obama administration, told the Guardian. "Both the structure and all the institutional memory is gone now."

Instead, Trump has looked within his administration to fill roles for the coronavirus response. In January, Trump appointed his Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, to chair a coronavirus task force. On Feb. 26, he announced that Vice President Mike Pence would be taking charge of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. And the following day, Pence announced he was appointing Ambassador Debbie Birx to assist the effort as "White House coronavirus response coordinator." Birx is a physician and global health expert who is currently responsible for coordinating the State Department's HIV/AIDS task force. The White House said she will be supported by NSC staff in her role.

Because of the animosity involved between Democrats and Republicans these days, evidently Trump feels he cannot trust any former Democrat in any role that can be turned against him.  The animosity has gone on during all 4 years of his position.  It's been a hateful climate.  He's a man who needs to be liked.  One can see that in how he's acted with the Russians and the Chinese and the Arabs.     

                                                              

Picture from June 2008 in Scotland,
Their mother was Scottish.  

It has happened to his family.  He has a sister, Maryanne Trump Barry,  who assailed him for lying, phoniness and cruelty as well as having no principals.  What is all this about?  Dollars to donuts, there was a fight over money due to her.  Barry, who retired from her role as a federal judge last year, has never spoken negatively about her brother in public. "The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy s---. But he's appealing to the base. What they're doing to the kids at the border, I mean," Barry told Mary Trump in one taped conversation in 2018. Trump just lost a brother that he felt very close to.  

Trump has been acting out on many occasions from feeling that many are against him; appearing to have a persecution complex to many. In fact, the climate has been such that people were acting like a Civil War was brewing between the 2 parties.   After 4 years of having actual things happen to him, the results of listening in on conversations about him to pin him to the Russian and collusion, the Steele Dossier, and then the final Impeachment process; it's like the old-time joke, of a man saying to a doctor:  Doc, they're out to get me; everywhere I go they're hiding behind bushes and will jump out at me.  

Doc:  Man, they are out to get you-it's not a persecution complex you have, it's real!  

Our 50 states have 24 Democratic governors and 26 Republican governors.  How we will all vote this time around is something I wouldn't take a bet on.   

What president served 4 years only?  John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Polk, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester Arthur, Stephen Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, and Jimmie Carter.

                                                       

Trump was the opposition to Hillary.  He was able to accomplish much for Israel, more than any other previous president. He had the guidance of Jared Kushner.   These steps were very important to Israelis.  

1.  The “recognition of Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

2. Opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem

3.  Recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.” These were key decisions made between December 2017 and March 2019.

4. Changed US policy on Israeli communities in the West Bank,  

5. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given Israel clear support for operations against Iran’s presence in Syria and elsewhere.

6. Numerous high-level military visits have taken place to Israel in recent months, including the visit of Centcom chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Air Force commander Gen. David Goldfein, who all came in November. And the Deputy Chief of the IDF General Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the US in mid-December. 

7. He also appears to see Israel as one of America’s key and reliable allies, having not mentioned many other countries positively in the letter.

8. Unprecedentedly pro-Israel policy moves, such as quitting the Iran nuclear deal                                                       
9.  U.S. decision effectively backing Israel’s building of settlements in the occupied West Bank, long awaited.   Labourers work in a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Ramat Givat Zeev in Judea-Samaria November 19, 2019. It is five kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. The town was founded in 1977 on the site of the abandoned Jordanian military camp, adjacent to the site of ancient Gibeon.  Israel won this land after war of 67 so had to wait 50 years to avoid condemnation to build needed apartments.  
10.  His peace treaty is bearing fruit with the leadership of son-in-law Jared Kushner in making peace with United Arab Emirates who may be followed up with their associates.  This comes from Trump's making friends with Saudi Arabia.                                                                                                                                Mistakes with Israel

1. Decision to stand aside as Turkey sends troops into Syria and fights Kurds allied with Washington has some Israelis wondering whether they too might eventually pay a price for his impatience with Middle East engagements. Kurds were helping to fight against ISIS.  They were friends of Israel; and our closest match of DNA.  This was a shock. 

2. Israel has had to put off annexation plans of area C, their part since the Oslo Accords, of Judea-Samaria, from pressure in Washington, etc.  "Israeli settlers in the West Bank, many of whom live in areas that Israel hopes to annex as part of the deal devised by Washington."  Between Covid 19 and the new peace arrangement with UAE, it is on the table but no one is serving it.   The pair "do not have Israel's security and settlement interests in mind. All they care about in this outline is promoting their own interests ahead of the upcoming election,” he added, appearing to refer to the U.S. presidential election, say some people needing Israel's protection there that would be provided through the annexation.   
3. Any plans involving Jerusalem's status of today; Israel's undivided capital.  This is sacrosanct to Israelis.  Never again shall it be divided or out of Israel's hands.  (G-d willing).  This would be a terrible mistake.  

None of us are perfect.  Weigh what is important to you, somebody that promises a lot and is a slick speaker or someone who is a doer, a work horse, a workaholic who gets things accomplished.  Netanyahu had to do just this; to cede territory so precious as area C , Jewish towns in Judea-Samaria or not mess with peace with Arabs. He of course chose peace.  Saving a life always comes first.   Trump has many faults; constant messaging; sending of tweets; ignorance of science; preference of votes over knowledge; Whatever your yardstick for measurement is, look at all sides.  This is going to be a hard election for both the candidates and the voters.  

Resource: 165:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Counsel_investigation_(2017%E2%80%932019)

  Harris, Shane (July 12, 2017). "Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.

166   Rosenberg, Matthew; Goldman, Adam; Schmidt, Michael S.(March 2, 2017). "Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking". The New York Times. 
 Bump, Philip (June 7, 2017). "Here's why James Comey wouldn't tell the world that Trump wasn't under investigation". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
 Trump, Donald (May 9, 2017). "Comey Firing Letter" (PDF). DocumentCloud. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
 "Trump v Comey: Who said what". BBC News. June 22, 2017. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Donald_Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/politics/michael-flynn-appeals-court.html
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/28/michael-bloomberg/did-donald-trump-fire-pandemic-officials-defund-cd/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trumps-sister-assailed-him-for-lying-phoniness-cruelty-and-having-no-principles-secretly-recorded-audio-reveals/ar-BB18gDmf?ocid=se
https://www.jpost.com/international/trump-touts-12-foreign-policy-achievements-amid-impeachment-611436
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-israel-kurds/israel-uneasy-over-trumps-refusal-to-stand-by-kurds-idUSKBN1WP2KP
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-israel-kurds/israel-uneasy-over-trumps-refusal-to-stand-by-kurds-idUSKBN1WP2KP
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-evangelicals/trump-shift-on-israeli-settlements-fulfills-wish-list-of-evangelical-base-idUSKBN1XT2UT
https://newrepublic.com/article/150646/young-trump-went-russia