Congressional Republicans are probing Kamala Harris’ national security adviser for “blatantly promoting the Iranian regime’s perspective and interests” and entertaining “connections” to an Iranian influence operation that swept up a now-suspended State Department official and three of his aides.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote a letter to the vice president on Wednesday demanding answers to questions about the adviser, Philip Gordon, who co-authored op-eds with one of the aides to suspended Iran special envoy Robert Malley and Malley himself — both of whom were involved in the Iranian influence campaign.
“Since last year, I have demanded accountability from the Department of Defense for allowing Iranian regime acolytes to infiltrate high-level government staff,” Stefanik told The Post.
“The Biden-Harris Administration policy of appeasing Iran and abandoning Israel will only worsen if Kamala Harris and her Iranian apologist staff are elevated. I am proud to join Senator Cotton to demand accountability,” she said.
The aide, Ariane Tabatabai, helped found the Iran Experts Initiative, which coordinated with senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials to influence negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal starting in 2014, and was also involved in a “covert campaign” to smear a prominent opposition group resisting the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
She is still serves in the Biden administration at the Pentagon as a chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.
“In a March 2020 piece, Mr. Gordon and Ms. Tabatabai claimed continued sanctions on Iran would create ‘catastrophe’ in the Middle East. In another, they wrote sanctions could lead to new Iranian efforts to ‘lash out with attacks on its neighbors, and on Americans and American interests in the Middle East,’” Stefanik and Cotton said.
“Each prediction was as wrong, as it was biased in favor of Tehran. Mr. Gordon was also closely associated with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), another Iranian influence organization that allegedly collaborates with Tehran,” they added, pointing to the adviser’s speaking engagements at the group’s 2014 and 2016 leadership conferences.
While Malley had his security clearance pulled in April 2023 and was placed on unpaid leave the following month, “Tabatabai remains gainfully employed in the Defense Department, helping oversee sensitive special operations,” Stefanik and Cotton also noted.
Additionally, they alleged that Amos Hochstein, a Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security at the State Department, may have “passed intelligence about Israeli airstrikes to Hezbollah potentially as recently as this weekend.”
The FBI and State Department Office of Inspector General are both investigating Malley for allegedly passing on classified material to Tehran.
The disgraced special envoy had served as a top negotiator of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal, during the Obama administration.
Gordon, who had also served with Obama officials during the nuclear talks, assumed his post after Harris’ former national security adviser, Nancy McEldowney made a “difficult decision” to depart the vice president’s office in March 2022, citing “pressing personal matters.”
Both Malley and Gordon in a Foreign Affairs op-ed four years prior had ripped the Trump administration for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.
Malley had been working to get Iranian officials back to the negotiating table before his suspension.
In their letter, Stefanik and Cotton asked for details by Aug. 9 about Gordon’s security clearance and whether the adviser was investigated after the ties between Tabatabai and Tehran came to light.