Mike Huckabee hosts traitor at US Embassy in Israel: report

Trump's Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with Israeli spy Jonathan J. Pollard at the US Embassy in Jerusalem in July. Pollard, an American former naval intelligence analyst, spied on America on behalf of Israel and served 30 years in prison for that crime.

Huckabee reportedly did not have the meeting with Pollard and his chief advisor David Milstein on his official calendar. But The New York Times learned about the meeting from "three U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity" and confirmed it with Pollard.

Pollard was released from prison 10 years ago, is now 71, and hasn’t been "hosted" at a government office by a US official during that time. He told the Times, "It was a friendly meeting." As to what they spoke about, Pollard said that "a lot of things came up in conversation."

During his time spying on America for a foreign nation, between 1984-85, Pollard handed over what then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger said were "so many documents that they could fill a space 6 feet by 6 feet by 10 feet." He compromised US intelligence sources and endangered the lives and missions of American troops.

Weinberger said at the time, "The defendant has substantially harmed the United States." The sources told the Times that the CIA was "alarmed" by the meeting.

He was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his espionage against the United States and is considered to be a traitor after having put the interests of Israel ahead of America's. Despite the life sentence, he was released on parole and then moved to Israel.

He received a "hero's welcome" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time. Huckabee had advocated for Pollard's release. Pollard has said he does not regret spying on America on behalf of a foreign power, telling the Times that he undertook the effort because the US had limited intelligence sharing with Israel.

Pollard is also no fan of President Donald Trump, saying that he is a "madman who has literally sold us down the drain, for Saudi gold." Pollard has plans to run for the Knesset, Israel's lawmaking body.

In their comment on the meeting, the US Embassy in Israel said the Ambassador had "meetings with numerous people, and as a matter of general policy, we do not comment as to the content of conversations." But they also said the Times' reporting was "filled with inaccuracies." It is unclear whether they attempted to correct those.

The White House didn't know about it in advance and the CIA didn't comment on it. The White House backed Huckabee after the fact, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, "The president stands by our ambassador."