What a coincidence that Sebastian Gorka repeatedly appeared on the Hannity show to smear the same two Obama officials targeted in a “dirty ops” campaign allegedly initiated by "people in the Trump camp" in an effort to undermine the Iran nuclear deal.
On Saturday, The Observer reported on the Trump administration's smear campaign:
People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to “get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.
[…]
According to incendiary documents seen by the Observer, investigators contracted by the private intelligence agency were told to dig into the personal lives and political careers of Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, and Kahl, a national security adviser to the former vice-president Joe Biden. Among other things they were looking at personal relationships, any involvement with Iran-friendly lobbyists, and if they had benefited personally or politically from the peace deal.
Yesterday, The New Yorker suggested Rhodes and Kahl may have been targeted out of retribution:
Kahl, who worked as an adviser to Vice-President Joe Biden, said that he believed Trump associates may have been involved because of unsubstantiated reports in conservative media outlets accusing Rhodes and Kahl of damaging leaks about the Trump Administration. “Why Ben and I? Why conjoin Ben and me?” Kahl asked. “Of all the other senior people in the White House, I’m least senior.”
Media Matters noticed that during that same time period, then-Trump assistant (and future Fox News “national security strategist”), Sebastian Gorka coincidentally used the Hannity show platform to smear Rhodes and Kahl:
On May 10, 2017, Gorka claimed the “real danger” to this country is political appointees like “the Ben Rhodes of the world, the Colin Kahls.” Several days later, Gorka once again called out Rhodes and Kahl, asking, “When is it going to stop? When is the conspiracy theory insanity of the resist movement, of the Ben Rhodes, Colin Kahl nexus going to say, look, we’re not going to endanger national security anymore?” In June, Gorka once again went after the two officials, saying, “It’s people like [former United Nations Ambassador Susan] Rice, Ben Rhodes, Colin Kahl who are covering their tracks for the disastrous policies of the last eight years.”
According to Media Matters, Gorka also attacked Rhodes and Kahls on Breitbart and on Mark Levin’s radio show.
It would not be a surprise if Gorka, a thuggish, Nazi-tied fugitive, were behind the entire smear effort.
Watch Gorka rail against Rhodes and Kahl below, from the May 10, 2017 Hannity show, via Media Matters.