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While President Donald Trump was burning the midnight oil hammering out a last-minute peace and denuclearization deal with Iran, his White House inner circle was hammering the critics from the right for either working to “undermine” peace efforts or “illegally” abusing residual security clearance.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Fox News contributor, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, received X criticism from some of Trump’s top inner circle advisors, including White House communications director Steven Cheung, deputy assistant on counterterror Sebastian Gorka and outside political advisor Alex Bruesewitz.
“Mike Pompeo has no idea what the f— he’s talking about,” Cheung wrote in a scathing X post Saturday night. “He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals. He’s not read into anything that’s happening, so how would he know.”
The Pompeo post that drew the ire suggested an impending Trump deal would wind up being an Obama-era-esque capitulation to Iran’s ongoing nuclear weapons aspirations.
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“The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world,” Pompeo wrote on X. “Not remotely America First.”
“It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region.
“Overdue. Let’s go.”
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Gorka, while confirming nothing from Pompeo’s post, did suggest the former secretary of state might be “illegally” abusing his residual high security clearance.
“You have no knowledge of what is being negotiated in secret,” Gorka wrote on X. “If you did, you would be in possession of information illegally provided to you and which you are wholly unauthorized to have or to share.”
“So are you a liar or a criminal Pompeo?” Gorka asked.
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Cruz also received blowback for a post suggesting Trump’s peace efforts would come up short because of releasing “billions of dollars” to the Iranian regime.
“I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran ‘deal,’ being pushed by some voices in the administration,” Cruz wrote Saturday on X. “President Trump’s decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of his second term. He was right to do so, and we achieved extraordinary military results — including destroying all of their missiles & drones and sinking their entire navy.
“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime—still run by Islamists who chant “death to America” — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.
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“The details are still coming out — and I pray the early reports are wrong — but the fact that Biden’s Rob Malley is praising the deal is not encouraging.
“President Trump believes in peace through strength, and his strong leadership has already made America much safer. He should continue to hold the line, defend America & enforce the red lines he has repeatedly drawn.”
That drew criticism from one of Trump’s outside political advisors in Bruesewitz.
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“Cool, Ted,” Bruesewitz wrote on X, touching off a tit-for-tat exchange with Cruz. “No one asked you, bro.
“Stop trying to undermine the President and his administration.”
Cruz fired back, suggesting Trump’s inner circle might be pushing Obama-era “Iran appeasement.”
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“Hush, child,” Cruz replied on X. “The adults are talking. I’m not your ‘bro.’ And young political grifters pushing Iran appeasement are not remotely helping the President.”
While there is some criticism of the Trump White House peace efforts, a noted Senate anti-war voice from the right came out to tell critics to let Trump cook.
“War virtually always ends with negotiations,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote Sunday morning on X. “Critics of President Trump’s peace negotiations should give President Trump the space to find an American First solution.”
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