Likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ national security advisor has spoken more than once to a lobbying group that advocates for positions sympathetic to the Iranian regime, and told then-President Donald Trump to “keep quiet” about supporting anti-government protesters in Iran.

Philip Gordon, who served as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region, rose from Harris’ deputy national security adviser to the top spot in 2022.

Gordon has spoken at least twice before the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which, according to Tablet Magazine, was “a willing advocate for a theocratic regime that brutally tortures and murders its own citizens while spreading death throughout the Middle East.” Tablet added, “The convergence of views between the Obama administration and the pro-Iran lobby helped NIAC and its partners to evolve from a pressure group to a high-level White House player. Philip Gordon, special assistant to the president and White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region spoke at the NIAC 2014 annual conference and in September 2016.”

Gordon was a keynote speaker at the 2016 National Iranian American Council Conference.

In December 2017, Gordon ripped then-President Trump for vociferously supporting Iranians rallying against the Iranian regime. In an address in October 2017, a clear-eyed Trump declared, “Iran is under the control of a fanatical regime that seized power in 1979 and forced a proud people to submit to its extremist rule. This radical regime has raided the wealth of one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant nations, and spread death, destruction, and chaos all around the globe.”

Gordon wrote in The New York Times, “I, too, want to see the government in Tehran weakened, moderated or even removed. So let me offer Mr. Trump some unsolicited advice: Keep quiet and do nothing,” adding, “We can be fairly certain that high-profile public support from the United States government will do more harm than good…. if Iranians do choose to rise up and push aside their government, it will not be the result of support from Washington.”

“One reason to worry that Mr. Trump may try to seize the moment by championing the protesters is that it has become an article of faith among President Barack Obama’s critics that in 2009 he missed a golden opportunity to do just that, when many Iranians took to the streets after a disputed election result. But it was never clear what difference American rhetorical support would have made then, other than allowing the Iranian government to depict the protesters as American lackeys, giving the security services more of a pretext to crack down violently,” Gordon asserted.