File this under “News of the Weird.” Unfortunately, we’ve had an embarrassment of riches in that department lately, so it makes sense if some weird tidbit got lost in the noise and slipped by without attracting significant attention. Something weird caught my eye that prompted a weird question. Weird answers mean you don’t know what you’re doing. Weird questions are game-changers.
Why are Musk’s minions going after FBI agents that worked to bring down Hamas?
The first time I saw this mentioned was in the recent letter signed by William Webster & Co. Specifically, the oblique reference to “a Hamas -related case.” For some reason, Trump’s DOJ is currently hunting down all the FBI personnel who worked a specific investigation.
Given all the attention focused on targeting of FBI agents involved in the Jan 6 investigations, its easy to see why set of targets got overlooked. It’s too weird to explain quickly, if at all.
I checked to see what investigation William Webster was referring to. A recent case from September 2024 the Biden administration brought to court fits the bill. This particular case is also mentioned, repeatedly, in a separate letter. That letter is written by Sen. Dick Durbin to Pam Bondi regarding her recent testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The case that Durbin references, United States v. Haniyeh, et al., 24 Mag. 438 (S.D.N.Y.), is a case from the Southern District of New York where a federal judge, in a court of competent jurisdiction, determined that six individuals bore responsibility for planning and orchestrating the terrorist attack of October 7th in Israel. Specifically, Haniyeh, Sinwar, Deif, Issa, Baraka, and Meshaal. The first five are dead. Good riddance.
Meshaal is still alive. He’s in Qatar. He used to live the good life. Now, he’s probably sleeping with one eye open.
This brings us back to the original weird question.
Why are Musk’s minions searching for the people who helped bring these bastards to justice?
Why are they doing this on orders from senior administration leadership?
Why would they want to identify and expose these people?
It’s not like they’re going to get medals.
I thought this administration hated terrorists.
I thought this administration was a great friend to Israel.
This seems weird.
Given the weird times we live in, poverty of imagination is not helpful. Flights of fancy aren’t useful either. But let’s not be shy about what may be going on here. Going after the Jan6 investigators makes sense for Fat Nixon. He can use the agents as red meat to whip up his base while he’s building up his army of Brown Shits. The Hamas case, however, is about foreign terrorists attacking Americans anywhere in the world. In this case, the attacks happened in Israel. This isn’t just a domestic political issue.
What foreign power would have a beef with investigators going after terrorists? The Israelis aren’t going to have any beef with these investigators. If anything, they would applaud their work.
Trump’s not retaliating against the agents because he’s a friend of the Palestinians. He’d love to develop that beachfront property. All the Israelis and Saudis have to do is put his name on it and pay a licensing fee. He’ll let them do whatever the hell they want.
The list of interested parties is getting pretty thin real quick. I think it’s fair to rule out any interest from China, North Korea, or the EU. As far as I can tell, the only countries left are Russia, Iran, Saudi, and maybe Qatar.
Saudi and Qatar are happy to play both sides of the table. As long as they get paid, they don’t care. I discount any other local actors because I don’t think they have the kind of money Trump would be looking for to sell information. A more appropriate question is what information could they possibly want to buy?
If the foreign interest is Russia, this may simply be one more avenue for destroying effective elements in the FBI. It may be that simple and then it’s not weird at all.
However, if the foreign interest Is the Islamic Republic in Iran, the major sponsor of Hamas, then I can think of one thing they would be interested in. The Islamic Republic has recently been making noises about the need for the Trump administration to take confidence building steps to gain Tehran's trust. Yeah, I know, that is funny as hell. The guys who take hostages on the daily are talking about trust-building. They’ve got balls, I’ll give them that. Unfortunately, Mr. “Art of the Deal” is a sucker for that kind of bait.
Here’s why I worry about the Islamic Republic as the audience for this. Fat Nixon recently pulled the security details for Pompeo, Bolton, and Hook. Bolton makes sense given Donnie’s vengeful side. But Pompeo and Hook are strong advocates of regime change in Iran. Pompeo, along with several other Republicans, has cozied up to the Albanian-based Iranian Mujahadeen (MEK) and gotten paid well for pimping their cause in DC. Hook, on the other hand, is a straight up policy wonk. He was the architect of the only Trump foreign policy that made sense to me. Brain Hook was the guy running the State Department response to Iran. He ran point on the Maximum Pressure policy and he was getting solid results. He was choking the crap out of Islamic Republic. He was originally slated to come back and deliver the coup de grace. That didn’t happen. Shortly after the election, for reasons no one has explained, Musk met with the Islamic Republic ambassador at the UN. There was an attempt to obfuscate this, but as soon as Donnie got in office, he promptly pulled Hook’s security detail and kicked him to the curb. It’s worth noting that prior to that, Hook had been leading the transition team at the State Department.
Why did a mid level policy wonk have a security detail? The Biden administration identified a specific credible threat with respect to former special representative for Iran Brian Hook from a “foreign power or the agent of a foreign power.” As it turns out, Hook was also instrumental in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. That was a huge deal. It sent shock waves throughout the region, changing the dynamics in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. The Islamic Republic made it clear that everyone involved in killing Soleimani has to die. Seems odd to put both Pompeo and Hook in the cross-hairs like that.
Unfortunately, team Trump has a history of giving people up as sweeteners to make a more lucrative deal. We know Jared gave up a lot of names to bin Salman. We also know that a lot of CIA assets in Russia and Eastern Europe were compromised shortly after Trump took over. Here's one example tied directly to Trump. Given the history of prior Republican administrations, I would expect the Islamic Republic to try and cut a deal with Trump to save their necks. They may already have one.
To sum up, going after these FBI agents is weird and doesn’t make sense. I’m keeping an eye on how this administration deals with Iran. My current thinking is if they are using Hook as bait, then someone cut a deal.
---------
Update: This just came out today. According to KayhanLife, a UK-based digital media outlet that focuses on Iran, floated a story suggesting U.S. Could Soon Engage in Negotiations With Islamic Republic. This reinforces my suspicion that the “confidence building measures” the Islamic Republic is looking for will be met, at least in part, by Donnie selling out people who have been defending the United States from the Islamic Republic and its terrorist proxies.