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Analysts continue to delve into revelations that the Iranians had agents of influence working in the US government, connected to President Barack Obama's lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal, Robert Malley.

Lee Smith examines the "High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted in Washington." He writes:

The contents of the emails are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime. They also show how these operatives used their Iranian heritage and Western academic positions to influence US policy toward Iran, first as outside "experts" and then from high-level US government posts. Both inside and outside of government, the efforts of members of this circle were repeatedly supported and advanced by Malley, who served as the US government’s chief interlocutor with Iran under both the Obama and the Biden administrations. Malley is also the former head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which directly paid and credentialed several key members of the regime’s influence operation.

Kenneth R. Timmerman writes:

Questions that now need to be asked are whether any of the individuals named in the Iran Experts Initiative, especially those who currently or previously worked in sensitive US government positions, met clandestinely with Iranian regime officials, whether they took directives from those officials, and whether they communicated classified or confidential US government information, including negotiating positions, to the Iranians.

Marc Rod reports at the Jewish Insider:

More than 30 Senate Republicans called on the Defense Department on Friday to suspend the security clearance of Ariane Tabatabai, a Defense Department official linked to an alleged Iranian influence operation outlined in media reporting last week.

… The lawmakers asked that the Pentagon inform them by Oct. 6 about the vetting process Tabatabai underwent, her access to highly secretive programs and the Defense Department’s awareness of the alleged influence network.

The letter was signed by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Katie Britt (R-AL), John Barrasso (R-WY), Jim Risch (R-ID), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Todd Young (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), James Lankford (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and John Thune (R-SD).

House members sent a similar letter last week.

Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon adds this news:

An alleged member of a secret Iranian government influence network visited the Biden White House at least five times for high-level meetings with senior US officials, according to visitor logs.

Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group, was outed last week as an alleged member of a vast Iranian-government-controlled propaganda network that helped push Tehran’s talking points in Washington, DC, and influence policy, according to Semafor… The meetings are raising questions about whether the Biden administration was aware of Vaez’s alleged participation in the Iranian influence operation and may have given him insider information about the administration’s diplomacy with Tehran.

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The Wall Street Journal editors write:

A band of eight Republicans succeeded in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on Tuesday, and we trust they’re happy. They now have the chaos they wanted, though it isn’t clear what else they hope to achieve. Their clever plan seems to be to cut off their own heads.

…In retrospect the die may have been cast at the start of this Congress when Mr. McCarthy conceded to a rule that any single Member could offer a motion to vacate his chair. He may have had no choice to win the job, and he did so assuming at least some goodwill among his critics. The reality is that they were always lying in wait to strike.

We refer to Reps. Matt Gaetz, Nancy Mace, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, Tim Burchett and Ken Buck. They united with Democrats to topple a Republican Speaker without a plan, a replacement, or even a policy goal in mind. Four percent of the Republican conference trumped the 96% who supported the Speaker.

…Meanwhile, the House is essentially frozen. The putative GOP majority is weaker, and its ability to gain any policy victories has been undermined. Oversight of the Biden Administration will slow or stop. Republicans in swing districts who are vulnerable in 2024 will be especially wary of trusting the Gaetz faction, and regaining any unity of purpose will be that much harder. The crazy left and right are cheering, but no one else is.

The Washington Examiner reminds us of what happens when the House is without a speaker:

No legislative function can occur on the House floor until a new speaker is elected. No votes or any other basic functions can occur on the floor of the House until the election has been resolved.

While this does not cause any immediate problems, a prolonged speaker election could cause trouble, with the government set to shut down if spending bills are not approved by Nov. 16.

Jimmy Quinn reports at National Review that a group of 100 conservative policy experts is urging Congress to support more aid to Ukraine, because a Russian victory there would have serious implications for US national security:

The campaign was launched today by the Vandenberg Coalition, a conservative foreign-policy nonprofit, in an open letter shared in advance exclusively with National Review. It follows the House GOP’s decision not to include further funding to support Kyiv and its war effort in a 45-day, stopgap government-funding bill passed over the weekend and the subsequent ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the speakership yesterday.

… The open letter, which does not specify what level of funding should be approved in the next aid package, stakes out a position that opposes both some GOP lawmakers’ opposition to further assistance and the Biden administration’s refusal to clearly spell out a strategy for US support — and to vigorously back it by transferring certain weapons systems.

Read the Vandenberg Coalition’s statement on the letter and the letter itself, here.

In an article about the passing of Senator Diane Feinstein and her positions on Israel, there was speculation about how supportive of Israel her possible replacement would be:

Feinstein "trail-blazed a historical path in public service," Sam Markstein, national political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS.

Markstein thinks it is highly unlikely that the Jewish senator’s successor will stand as strongly with Israel as she did.

"Whomever the Democrats select for California’s US senate seat will be yet another rubber stamp for the radical, anti-Israel J Street agenda that attempts to undermine our relationship with the Jewish state," he predicted.

California Governor Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler to take Feinstein’s seat, even though Butler has lived in Maryland since 2021 and is registered to vote in that state. Butler has been the president of EMILY's List, the self-described "nation's largest resource dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women to office." She was sworn in as a US Senator on Tuesday.

Neither party well-liked, but GOP holds advantage on issues

According to a new Gallup poll: "The two major political parties remain unpopular in the U.S., with 56% of Americans viewing the Republican Party unfavorably and 58% saying the same of the Democratic Party… Although both parties are about equally disliked, the public chooses the Republican Party over the Democratic Party by healthy margins when asked which will better safeguard the nation’s prosperity and security.

Bipartisan House bill seeks to counter Iranian hostage-taking

A bipartisan House bill introduced on Monday seeks to counter Iran’s practice of taking US hostages, including pushing to bar ransom payments to US adversaries and block US passport holders from visiting Iran.

Randi Weingarten joins J Street board

Teachers' union leader Randi Weingarten, who presided over a disastrous nationwide shutdown of schools during the coronavirus pandemic, is joining the board of one of the country’s most prominent anti-Israel groups. J Street, a far-left group that works to undermine the Jewish state, announced on Wednesday that Weingarten will join its board of directors.

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