Josh Dawsey

How do they do that?

Including the president.

I interviewed Senator Lindsey Graham, who said to me that the president was just sort of dazzled by this pager operation.

So when Netanyahu visited the White House last year, he brought a gold pager and gave it to President Trump as a gift to show him, this is how the pager looks, and here's one in your trademark color, gold.

I don't know if there's anything else you can say besides that.

Do you know where he keeps it?

I don't know where he keeps it, though I do know that he showed it off to multiple visitors.

He keeps all sorts of trademark gifts that various CEOs and folks give him in the White House.

The pager is something that he regularly shows people.

Netanyahu has wanted, you know, for a long time, he's tried to convince other U.S.

presidents to do this as well, and they've never gone for it.

I mean, that was Netanyahu's goal.

That was his, you know, dream, to get Trump to go along with him on this sort of major expedition.

Trump was open to it.

President Trump was certainly frustrated with the Iranians.

And he came back in the second term, I think more willing than he ever was in the first term, to have, you know, sustained military conflict with them.

And I think Netanyahu used that as an opportunity.

And I think in one way, their interests were more aligned here because the president was more confident in the military, was more willing to take on Iran in a forceful way.

One of the things that was striking to us in the reporting of the story was just how often the two men talk.

I mean, we had people both close to Netanyahu and close to President Trump who say, you know, they often talk almost every day, if not every day, right?