Top Donald Trump official calls US airstrikes on Iran ‘pointless,' suggests ‘deep state' swayed President
A top staffer in the federal agency overseeing personnel for the Trump administration has denounced the US strikes on Iran as 'pointless' and suggested the decision was made by members of DC's 'deep state.'
Andrew Kloster, who serves as general counsel at the Office of Personnel Management, tweeted — and then deleted — a string of posts ripping the US for having sent 'handouts' to Israel in the past and for previously downplaying the threat of Tehran getting a nuclear weapon.
Within a half-hour of President Trump announcing successful US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities Saturday night, Kloster wrote on X, 'I apologize and will never again doubt the power of the deep state.'
In a response to an X user saying that 'Iran's nuclear sites being crushed seems a long-term benefit for the US,' Kloster wrote, 'I think it was just kind of pointless.'
He also boosted a post from Vish Burra, disgraced former New York Rep. George Santos' ex-director of operations, that referred to Israel's conflict with Iran as a 'tribal squabble' after Tehran broke a cease-fire Trump secured Monday night.
The posts — still visible as of Tuesday morning — have since been deleted.
The senior official's candid commentary is extremely unusual — due in part to the fact that he can be fired at will as a political appointee.
OPM also has a role in implementing Trump's 'Schedule F' directive to ensure that non-political appointees in the federal bureaucracy are upholding the president's policies.
In April, Trump tweeted that pursuant to one of his Day One executive orders, all career government employees would need to 'be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance.
'If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,' Trump added.
Kloster's posts reflected the broad unease among Trump's non-interventionist supporters who fear that US involvement in bombing Iran will trigger a prolonged conflict in the region, sap trillions of dollars more from the US Treasury and result in American deaths — after prior US interventions turned into quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had urged the president's jittery MAGA base ahead of the bombing mission to 'trust in Trump' to secure 'peace through strength.'
Just two days after his unprecedented attack on Iran, Trump swiftly returned to his anti-war messaging — brokering a cease-fire Monday and then strong-arming both sides after violations Tuesday.
A source close to the White House described Kloster's tweets as foolish.
Kloster worked at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel during the final year of Trump's first term and also as a lawyer for then-Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's congressional office from February 2023 until his resignation in November.
He also had stints as deputy general counsel and later acting general counsel in OPM during the first Trump administration as well as in senior positions in the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The tweets are just the latest drama surrounding Trump appointees put in charge of filling his administration.
Presidential Personnel Director Sergio Gor allegedly sparked Trump's feud this month with Elon Musk.
Sources also revealed that Gor, the top administration official in charge of vetting job applicants, had not submitted paperwork for a standard government security clearance and that despite saying he's from Malta was not born on the Mediterranean island.
'Sergio Gor is a trusted adviser to President Trump and he has played a critical role in helping President Trump staff the most talented administration in history,' Leavitt has said in the past.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also both praised Gor for his work filling out the staff of the second administration, with the latter touting his 'effort to ensure committed, principled America First advocates staff the President's government.'
Kloster has been described by sources close to the White House as a close friend and ally of Gor.
Kloster did not respond to Post requests for comment. The White House declined to comment.
Originally published as Top Donald Trump official calls US airstrikes on Iran 'pointless,' suggests 'deep state' swayed President
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The Israel-Hamas war started following the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when some 1200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage. About 50 of them still remain in captivity in Gaza. The latest deaths include six people killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes on a group of citizens near the Martyrs Roundabout in the Bureij Camp in central Gaza Strip, officials at Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said on Friday. The United Nations chief, meanwhile, urged leaders to show "political courage" and agree to a ceasefire like the one forged between Israel and Iran. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged a return to the UN's long-tested distribution system for aid in Gaza, where he said Israeli military operations have created "a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions". "The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz emphatically reject a report that claimed Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sites inside Gaza. They called the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz's findings "malicious falsehoods designed to defame" the military. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded while seeking food since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid in the territory about a month ago, according to Gaza's health ministry. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Reacting to the Haaretz piece, Israel's military confirmed it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites. It rejected the article's allegations "of deliberate fire toward civilians". The foundation, which is backed by an American private contractor, has been distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza, for the past month. "GHF is not aware of any of these incidents but these allegations are too grave to ignore and we therefore call on Israel to investigate them and transparently publish the results in a timely manner," the group said in a social media post. Palestinians trying to find food have frequently encountered chaos and violence on their way to and on arrival at the aid sites. Tens of thousands are desperate for food after Israel imposed a two-and-a-half month siege on Gaza, blocking all food, water and medicine from entering the territory pending the set-up of the GHF sites. A GHF spokesperson challenged the report, saying they did not know of any incidents at or near their sites on Friday. Twenty other bodies his hospital received on Friday came from air strikes across north Gaza, he said. Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots. The group Doctors Without Borders on Friday condemned the distribution system as "a slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid" and called for it to be immediately shut down. More than 6000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed on March 18. Since the war began, more than 56,000 people have been killed and 132,000 injured, according to the health ministry. The Israel-Hamas war started following the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when some 1200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage. About 50 of them still remain in captivity in Gaza. The latest deaths include six people killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes on a group of citizens near the Martyrs Roundabout in the Bureij Camp in central Gaza Strip, officials at Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said on Friday. The United Nations chief, meanwhile, urged leaders to show "political courage" and agree to a ceasefire like the one forged between Israel and Iran. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged a return to the UN's long-tested distribution system for aid in Gaza, where he said Israeli military operations have created "a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions". "The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters.
