The Iran Action Group Puts Muscle Behind Trump’s Iran Bluster

"The Iran Action Group’s cast of characters includes a former explosives ordinance expert, Jason Shell; David Tessler, a mild-mannered sanctions expert with two tweets to his name; Michelle Giuda, who was once Newt Gingrich’s spokeswoman and was also a national gymnastics champion at the University of California at Los Angeles; and a former New York ad man, Len Khodorkovsky, whose family fled the Soviet Union when he was a child and who now coordinates Pompeo’s anti-Iran messaging campaign.

Their leader is Brian Hook, a foreign policy wonk who worked for the George W. Bush adminstration and advised Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Hook wielded vast power under Pompeo’s predecessor, Rex Tillerson, serving as his policy brain. While his current mandate isn’t as expansive, he’s been given valuable real estate, moving into an office along the State Department corridor known as Mahogany Row. Working a few doors down from Pompeo, he’s essentially taken control of the department’s policy toward Iran."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-04/the-iran-action-group-puts-muscle-behind-trump-s-iran-bluster?srnd=businessweek-v2

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>>3326608 - Iran Action Group

A Former Obama Operative Built a New Anti-Republican Attack Machine

"John Burton hopes an army of dirt diggers can deliver an October surprise for Democrats."

…..

"Some Resisters march or knock on doors; others raise money or run for office. Burton felt his gifts lay elsewhere: namely, in tearing down political opponents. Over the past year, backed by mysterious donors, he’s organized what may be the most audacious grass-roots project in the age of Trump. Burton has amassed an army of 16,000 amateur sleuths who, with professional guidance, have spent months ferreting out damaging material on scores of vulnerable Republicans in Congress and state legislatures. Now he’s ready to unleash it just in time for the midterms. As he told me, “We’re going to do with real information and real Americans what the Russians tried to do with fake information and fake Americans.”

Oppo works best when its target is unaware, so

Burton’s project, dubbed Citizen Strong,

has operated by stealth, waiting until just now to publicly declare its existence as a 501(c)4 “dark money” group with three affiliated political action committees. Even this step doesn’t reveal much. Dark money donors can give unlimited sums anonymously, and Burton won’t identify his benefactors or even the three operatives he’s hired to help run the group."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/a-former-obama-operative-built-a-new-anti-republican-attack-machine?srnd=businessweek-v2

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>>3326637 - New Anti-Republican Attack Machine