Was Keith Kellogg to Trump 2.0 what Michael Flynn was to Trump 1.0? | American Business Institute

On Election Day in 2016, Gen. Michael Flynn wrote an opinion article in the Hill. It represented a complete turnaround for a man who has made a career of fighting radical Islamism by uncritically speaking out and amplifying the Turkish president. Recep Tayyip Erdogans positions. To anyone who knew Flynn, it was clear that he had not written the article himself and was essentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent, a charge he denied.

It didn't matter. It quickly emerged that Flynn had accepted a large fee from the Turks for represent their interests. He then retroactively registered as a foreign agent. Flynn's dishonesty did not directly end his career as national security adviser, but it put him on the radar of numerous investigations aimed at leveraging his former positions and possible future influence to gain leverage. money.

He stayed less than a month in the White House, resigning in disgrace on February 13, 2021, with by far the shortest tenure of any non-acting official in his position. The damage caused by Flynn was not just for himself but also to army image and the Trump administration more broadly by fueling a narrative about corruption that the media exaggerated but nonetheless distracted from the president's ability to implement his agenda.

Alas, what Flynn was to Trump 1.0, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg may be to Trump 2.0. On January 11, President Donald Trump's new special envoy for Russia and Ukraine appeared in France to speak at a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the Mojahedin al Khalq. Kellogg's decision to speak at an Iranian event is curious, given that his military career has never focused on the Iranian challenge, nor is he part of Trump's Iran team .

For the Washington elite, the WIPO and its various conferences in Paris constitute a corruption barometer. WIPO regularly pays honoraria of $40,000 or $50,000 for five-minute speeches, although this is unclear where his money comes from. The fact that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani began accepting fees from the MEK was perhaps the first sign of his tragic descent. The fact that the PMOI cannot designate a single member who has undergone the US security clearance process highlights the fact that worships resistance to transparency.

Trump may want to focus on China, but Iran remains an important part of the global problem he will face. Here, the damage Kellogg has done to Trump's ability to succeed is enormous. Iranians hate the Islamic Republic, but they despise the PMOI as much if not more. After all, the MEK collaborated with Ayatollah Khomeini to oust the shah, only to fall victim to his purges. The group then allied itself with Saddam Hussein, an enemy not only of Khomeini but of all Iranians.

The MEK's terrorism was often indiscriminate, as its leader, Maryam Rajavi, believed that killing enough Iranian civilians would delegitimize the regime. The story that the MEK proved itself through intelligence revelations is also false. The MEK's record is mixed. Rather, it appears that the group receives and repackages intelligence from Saudi Arabia and Israel to conceal its origins. The fact is that Iranians want to free themselves from the Islamist dictatorship, and not replace one regime with another equally odious one.

What doubles Kellogg's shame is that the MEK killed American service members and, to this day, does not apologize for its actions. There is little difference between Kellogg attending a MEK rally and a retired US general attending a Baader-Meinhof gang rally in Germany, beyond the fact that the MEK has killed more US military personnel .

At best, Kellogg demonstrates poor judgment. At worst, he doesn't care. Maybe he pocketed the PMOI money, thinking he would be a private citizen for another week. If he cares more about Iranian freedom and American national security than his own wallet, he will do it. donate fees to the Iranians who are risking their lives.