The US Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps has asked President Trump for permission to detain former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican, following yesterday’s revelation that he met secretly with convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in Jerusalem this summer.
Pollard was a civilian analyst for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) from 1979 until his arrest in 1986. By his own admission, he had supplied Israel with over 800 classified documents and 1,000 cables. Convicted of espionage, Pollard received a life sentence but was released in 2015, and relocated to Israel five years later. Federal and military intelligence agencies had excommunicated him, deeming Pollard the ultimate traitor. “Once a traitor, always a traitor,” our source said.
Earlier this week, mainstream outlets uncovered that Huckabee, the current US Ambassador to Israel, had a clandestine meeting with Pollard in early July. The face-to-face hadn’t appeared on Huckabee’s schedule, nor had he acknowledged it before the story made headlines Tuesday morning. After Huckabee confirmed to Axios that the rendezvous had occurred, many prominent Trump supporters demanded answers. Tucker Carlson posted to X, “This is shocking behavior from a United States ambassador. Is Huckabee going to explain it?” while Stephen K. Bannon wrote, “Immediately Recall Ambassador Huckabee, He is Out of Control.” Popular MAGA commentator Cernovich said, “There is no universe where it’s appropriate for Mike Huckabee, who is supposed to be OUR AMBASSADOR and serve our country’s interest, is meeting with Jonathan Pollard, who to this day encourages spying on the U.S.” Democrats, too, joined the fray of discontent; Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro opined, “Jonathan Pollard is a convicted traitor who provided highly sensitive national security information to the Israeli government. He did grave harm to our country. It’s unacceptable that Ambassador Huckabee secretly met with Mr. Pollard, a convicted traitor, at the United States Embassy.”
Responding to the unified outrage, Huckabee insisted the meeting was benign and that he had not shared any classified information with Pollard. His assurances, though, hardly curbed the condemnation.
When JAG, which operates in tandem with NCIS, learned of the meeting, Judge Advocate General Major General David Bligh phoned the White House and requested permission to haul Huckabee back to the United States for detainment and questioning, our JAG source said.
“I don’t know how POTUS responded, but I know General Bligh told him that Huckabee should now be considered a national security threat who shouldn’t get a free pass just because he’s a Republican. We’ve seen so many sell-outs, it’s really unbelievable. It’s bad enough—and please don’t share my name because even speaking badly of Israel is enough these days to get me dishonorably discharged—that we give that country everything they want. But Gen. Bligh told Trump if the DOJ wasn’t going to investigate Huckabee’s relation to Pollard, the military should,” our source said.