Agency hired to discredit Obama’s aide

WASHINGTON — For years, opponents of the nuclear deal with Iran have accused Benjamin Rhodes, a top national security aide to President Barack Obama, of scheming to sell the diplomatic agreement on false pretenses to the American people.

Now, just as President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the deal, evidence has surfaced that the agreement’s opponents engaged in a sophisticated effort to dig up dirt on Rhodes and his family that continued well after the Obama administration left office.

A detailed report about Rhodes, compiled by Black Cube, a private investigations firm established by former intelligence analysts from the Israeli Defense Forces, contains pictures of his apartment in Washington, telephone numbers and email addresses of members of his family, as well as unsubstantiated allegations of personal and ethical transgressions.

In a separate case in 2017, the same firm was hired to gather dirt on women accusing Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul, of multiple instances of sexual misconduct.

It is unclear who hired Black Cube to prepare the report on Rhodes and a similar report on Colin Kahl, the national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, which were obtained by The New York Times from a source with knowledge of their provenance.

The Guardian, which first published the existence of the reports on Rhodes and Kahl, said aides to Trump hired the firm, but there is no evidence in the documents that indicate any connection to anyone in Trump’s administration. A spokesman for the company vehemently denied any connection to the president.