AIPAC Leader Boasts of Influence Over Top Trump NatSec Officials in Leaked Audio

EXCERPT:

BRANDT: "We may not lobby the executive. As we were talking about, there was a discussion earlier, about Congress being representatives of the people while the White House has to be responsive to Congress. And so it's working with, at the time, our friends on the Democratic side of the aisle, to apply pressure the way that they know how to an administration, as it will be with this administration. When I was talking about the people who will get appointed into some of these jobs, like at the top level, you talk about Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik, Michael Waltz, those three people have something in common. They all served in Congress. They all have relationships with key AIPAC leaders from their communities. So the lines of communication are good should there be something questionable or curious that we need access on the conversations. You know that one of the first candidates I ever met with as an AIPAC professional in my job when he was a candidate for Congress was a guy named John Ratcliffe. He was challenging a longtime member of Congress in Dallas. I said, 'This guy looks like he could win the race,' and we go talk to him. He had a good understanding of issues, and a couple of weeks ago he took the oath as the CIA director, for crying out loud. This is a guy that we've had a chance to speak to, so there are — there are a lot of — I wouldn't call them lifelines, but there are lifelines in there."