Congress Launches Probe Into Obama Sanctioned Campaign To Unseat Netanyahu

 The Obama administration is under investigation for a secret program involving the use of American taxpayer money to influence an election in a foreign country.

Specifically, the White House attempted to actively defeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his re-election bid in 2015.

Obama’s State Department provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to a non-profit group who, in turn, funneled the money to political groups trying to unseat Netanyahu.

The actions taken by the non-profit group are prohibited under U.S. tax law.

Via the Washington Free Beacon:

Congress on Friday launched a wide-ranging probe into a secret Obama administration-funded campaign to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to information exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The probe comes on the heels of an internal government report determining that the State Department provided hundreds of thousands to an organization that plotted to unseat Netanyahu in the country’s 2015 election.

Obama administration officials were found to have deleted emails from State Department accounts containing information about its relationship with OneVoice, the non-profit group that led the effort.

OneVoice, which was awarded $465,000 in U.S. grants through 2014, has been under congressional investigation since 2015, when it was first accused of funneling some of that money to partisan political groups looking to unseat Netanyahu. This type of behavior by non-profit groups is prohibited under U.S. tax law.

When news of this illegal activity leaked in February of 2015, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) suggested President Obama “needs a refresher course on who our friends are and who our enemies are.”

Zeldin and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry outlining their concerns that the President had used the government of the United States to “exercise any influence over elections in a foreign country.”

The letter also stated that Obama had no right to use tax dollars to play party politics thousands of miles away from his own country.

Now Congress will determine exactly what legal ramifications are involved in such activities.

Comment: Should American taxpayer money be used to influence foreign elections? Share your thoughts below.

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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