Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams was born into a Jewish family{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgRQAsk0CK4C&q=abrams|first=Gerald|last=Sorin|title=Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America (The American Moment)|pages=219|date=March 11, 1997|publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5446-0}} in New York in 1948. His father was an immigration lawyer. Abrams attended the Little Red School House in New York City, a private high school whose students at the time included the children of many of the city's notable left-wing activists and artists.{{cite news |title=Book Review: 'Little Red' by Dina Hampton |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/04/24/book-review-little-red-dina-hampton/HODx8JqbH7F3COsbr5D25I/story.html |newspaper=Boston Globe |first=James |last=Sullivan |date=April 24, 2013}} Abrams' parents were Democrats. His first cousin is attorney Floyd Abrams.{{Cite news|first=Rebecca |last=Dana |author-link= |title=The Abrams Family |newspaper=The New York Observer|date=December 6, 2016 |url= https://observer.com/2006/12/the-abrams-family/ |access-date=}}

Abrams received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1969, a Master of Science in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1970, and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1973.{{Cite web |date=October 28, 2024 |title=Elliott Abrams, Commissioner {{!}} USCIRF |url=https://www.uscirf.gov/about-uscirf/elliott-abrams-commissioner |access-date=October 29, 2024 |website=www.uscirf.gov |language=en}} He practiced law in New York in the summers for his father, and then at Breed, Abbott & Morgan from 1973 to 1975 and with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand from 1979 to 1981.

Abrams worked as an assistant counsel on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1975, then worked as a staffer on Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson's brief campaign for the 1976 Democratic Party presidential nomination. From 1977 through 1979, he served as special counsel and ultimately as chief of staff for the then-new senator Daniel Moynihan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807848579/our-own-backyard|title=Our Own Backyard|last=Leogrande|first=William M.|website=University of North Carolina Press|page=444|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-15}}

Dissatisfaction with President Carter's foreign policy led Abrams to campaign for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.{{cite web|url=http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/elliott-abrams/|title=Elliott Abrams on Conversations with Bill Kristol|access-date=12 April 2018}}

File:President Ronald Reagan Meeting with Elliott Abrams About Trip to Central America with John Whitehead.jpg meet with President Ronald Reagan in 1986]]

Abrams first came to national prominence when he served as Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in the early 1980s and later as Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs. His nomination to Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs was unanimously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on November 17, 1981.{{cite journal|last=Bite|first=Vita|date=November 24, 1982|title=Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy: Issue Brief IB81125|journal=Congressiokal Researce Service Major Issues System|publisher=Library of Congress|pages=5–6|url= https://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs//data/1982/upl-meta-crs-8859/IB81125_1982Nov24.pdf?PHPSESSID=59cb7309244ccd0ecddc8ba98158d482|access-date=November 16, 2009}} Abrams was Reagan's second choice for the position; his first nominee, Ernest W. Lefever, had been rejected by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 5, 1981.

During his time in the post, Abrams clashed regularly with church groups and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch.{{cite news|title=Back in Political Forefront: Iran-Contra Figure Plays Key Role on Mideast|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|date=May 27, 2003|newspaper=Washington Post|page=A01}} According to an article in The Washington Post, in a 1984 appearance on the program Nightline, Abrams clashed with Aryeh Neier,{{cite web |url=http://www.soros.org/about/bios/b_neier |title=Aryeh Neier |access-date=2007-05-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513072854/http://www.soros.org/about/bios/b_neier |archive-date=2007-05-13 }} the executive director of Human Rights Watch{{cite journal |last=Neier |first=Aryeh|date=November 2, 2006|title=The Attack on Human Rights Watch|volume=53|issue=57|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19500|journal=The New York Review of Books}} and with the leader of Amnesty International, over the Reagan administration's foreign policies. They accused him of covering up atrocities committed by the military forces of U.S.-backed governments, including those in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and the rebel Contras in Nicaragua. Abrams accused critics of the Reagan administration's foreign policy towards Latin America of being "Un-American" and "unpatriotic."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/executivesecrets00daug_0|url-access=registration|title=Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency|last=Daugherty|first=William|date=2004|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813123349|page=[https://archive.org/details/executivesecrets00daug_0/page/254 254]|language=en}}

In an October 1981 memo, weeks prior to his confirmation in the Senate, Abrams asserted, "human rights is at the core of our foreign policy."{{Cite journal|last=Jacoby|first=Tamar|date=1986|title=The Reagan Turnaround on Human Rights|journal=Foreign Affairs|language=en|volume=64|issue=5|pages=1066–1086|doi=10.2307/20042781|jstor=20042781}} Critics say that Abrams and the Reagan administration misappropriated the term human rights, with Tamar Jacoby writing in 1986, "in a period that more or less coincided with Abrams' tenure as assistant secretary of state for human rights, the White House endeavored to appropriate the banner of human rights for itself to use it in battle not only against communist regimes but also, in a more defensive way, against domestic opponents of its human rights policy." The Lawyers Committee, Americas Watch and Helsinki Watch wrote a report in 1985, charging that Abrams had "developed and articulated a human rights ideology which complements and justifies Administration policies" and undermined the purpose of the human rights bureau in the State Department.

According to American University political scientist William M. LeoGrande,

Communist governments were the worst human rights violators in the world, Abrams believed, so virtually anything done to prevent Communists from coming to power (or to overthrow them) was justifiable on human rights grounds. This theory fit neatly into the Cold War presumptions that framed Reagan's foreign policy and allowed the administration to rationalize supporting murderous regimes so long as they were anti-Communists. In practice, it was little different from Henry Kissinger's realpolitik that discounted human rights issues entirely.

As Assistant Secretary of State, Abrams advocated for aid to Guatemala under then dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, erroneously stating in 1983 that his reign had "brought considerable progress" on human rights. Ríos Montt came to power via a coup in 1982, overcoming the forces of General Fernando Romeo Lucas García. Thirty years later, Ríos Montt was found guilty of overseeing a campaign of mass murder and torture of indigenous people, genocide, in Guatemala. Ríos Montt, who claimed he had no operational control of the forces involved, was convicted of genocide against the Maya-Ixil population.{{cite news |first=Elisabeth |last=Malkin |title=Trial on Guatemalan Civil War Carnage Leaves Out U.S. Role |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/world/americas/trial-on-guatemalan-civil-war-carnage-leaves-out-us-role.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 May 2013}}

Abrams frequently defended the human rights record of the El Salvador government and attacked human rights groups as communist sympathizers when they criticized the El Salvador government. In early 1982, when reports of the El Mozote massacre of hundreds of civilians by the military in El Salvador began appearing in U.S. media, Abrams told a Senate committee that the reported number of deaths at El Mozote "was not credible," reasoning that the reported number of deaths was greater than the likely population, and that there were survivors. He said that "it appears to be an incident that is at least being significantly misused, at the very best, by the guerrillas."{{cite magazine |url=http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/the_truth_of_el_mozote |title=The Truth of El Mozote |last=Danner |first=Mark |date=December 3, 1993 |magazine=The New Yorker |pages=4, 50–50 |access-date=November 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115135836/http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/the_truth_of_el_mozote |archive-date=November 15, 2012 }} The massacre had come at a time when the Reagan administration was attempting to bolster the human rights image of the Salvadoran military. Abrams implied that reports of a massacre were simply FMLN propaganda and denounced U.S. investigative reports of the massacre as misleading. In March 1993, the Salvadoran Truth Commission reported that over 500 civilians were "deliberately and systematically" executed in El Mozote in December 1981 by forces affiliated with the Salvadoran government.{{cite book|last=Whitfield|first=Teresa|title=Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuría and the Murdered Jesuits of El Salvador|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|year=1994|page=389|isbn=978-1-56639-253-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv9o4qoOnFEC&pg=PA389}} A 1992 Human Rights Watch report criticized Abrams for downplaying the massacre.{{cite web |last1=Forrest |first1=Jack |title=Biden nominates controversial former Trump-appointee to Public Diplomacy Commission |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/03/politics/elliott-abrams-public-diplomacy-nomination/index.html |website=CNN |access-date=4 July 2023 |language=en |date=3 July 2023}}{{cite web |title=The massacre at El Mozote: the need to remember |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/pdfs/e/elsalvdr/elsalv923.pdf |website=Human Rights Watch |access-date=4 July 2023 |date=4 March 1992}}

Also in 1993, documentation emerged suggesting that some Reagan administration officials could have known about El Mozote and other human rights violations from the beginning.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/21/world/how-us-actions-helped-hide-salvador-human-rights-abuses.html|title=How U.S. Actions Helped Hide Salvador Human Rights Abuses|last=Krauss|first=Clifford|date=March 21, 1993|work=New York Times}} However, in July 1993, an investigation commissioned by Clinton Secretary of State Warren Christopher into the State Department's "activities and conduct" with regard to human rights in El Salvador during the Reagan years found that, despite U.S. funding of the Salvadoran government that committed the massacre at El Mozote, individual U.S. personnel "performed creditably and occasionally with personal bravery in advancing human rights in El Salvador."{{cite book|last=Whitfield|first=Teresa|title=Paying the Price|pages=389–390|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv9o4qoOnFEC&pg=PA389|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-56639-253-2|date=1994-11-09}} Abrams said in 2001 that Washington's policy in El Salvador was a "fabulous achievement."{{cite web|url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010702/corn|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915081355/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010702/corn|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 15, 2012|title=Elliott Abrams: It's Back!|last=Corn|first=David|date=June 1, 2001|work=The Nation|access-date=November 16, 2009}} In 2019 he said that the "fabulous achievement" was that El Salvador "has been a democracy".{{cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2019/2/15/18225109/elliott-abrams-ilhan-omar-venezuela|title=The fight between Ilhan Omar and Elliott Abrams, Trump's Venezuela envoy, explained|author=Zack Beauchamp|newspaper=Vox|date=Feb 15, 2019}} In a 1998 interview, Abrams remarked, "While it was important to us to promote the cause of human rights in Central America it was more important to prevent a communist takeover in El Salvador."{{Cite journal|last=Hartmann|first=Hauke|date=2001|title=US Human Rights Policy under Carter and Reagan, 1977-1981|journal=Human Rights Quarterly|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=402–430|doi=10.1353/hrq.2001.0017|s2cid=143934287|issn=1085-794X}}

{{See also|Nicaragua v. United States}}

When Congress shut down funding for the Contras' efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government with the 1982 Boland Amendment, members of the Reagan administration began looking for other avenues for funding the group.National Security Council internal memorandum, "Options and Legislative Strategy for Renewing Aid to the Nicaraguan Resistance". January 31, 1985. Declassified under FOIA Congress opened a couple of such avenues when it modified the Boland Amendment for fiscal year 1986 by approving $27 million in direct aid to the Contras and allowing the administration to legally solicit funds for the Contras from foreign governments.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/10/world/iran-contra-hearings-boland-amendments-what-they-provided.html|title=Iran-Contra Hearings; Boland Amendments: What They Provided|date=July 10, 1987|work=New York Times|access-date=2009-11-16}} Neither the direct aid, nor any foreign contributions, could be used to purchase weapons.

Guided by the new provisions of the modified Boland Amendment, Abrams flew to London in August 1986 and met secretly with Bruneian defense minister General Ibnu to solicit a $10-million contribution from the Sultan of Brunei.{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm|title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel For Iran/Contra Matters Vol. I: Investigations and Prosecutions|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence E.|date=August 4, 1993|work=Chapter 25|publisher=U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia|access-date=November 16, 2009}}{{cite book|last=Abrams|first=Elliott|title=Undue Process: A Story of How Political Differences Are Turned into Crimes|publisher=The Free Press|year=1993|pages=[https://archive.org/details/undueprocessstor00abra/page/89 89]|isbn=978-0-02-900167-7|url=https://archive.org/details/undueprocessstor00abra/page/89}} Ultimately, the Contras never received this money because a clerical error in Oliver North's office (a mistyped account number) sent the Bruneian money to the wrong Swiss bank account.

{{See also|Foreign interventions by the United States|United States involvement in regime change in Latin America}}

In October 1986, a plane flown by Eugene Hasenfus, carrying military equipment intended for the Contras, a right-wing rebel group fighting against the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua, was shot down over Nicaragua.{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/foreigners-on-americas-death-rows/A9DCD50436A7085B7B8C39E349BBB63D |title=Foreigners on America's Death Rows by John Quigley |last=Quigley |first=John |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge Core |pages=50–51 |language=en |access-date=2019-02-15 |doi=10.1017/9781108552448 |isbn=9781108552448}} The Reagan administration publicly denied that Hasenfus sought to arm the Contras as part of a US government mission. However, the State Department was centrally involved in the covert plan to fund the Contras, which violated congressional legislation. In congressional testimony in October 1986, Abrams repeatedly and categorically denied that the US government was involved in arming the Contras.{{Cite book|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41082|title=Intimate Ties, Bitter Struggles: The United States and Latin America Since 1945|last=Mcpherson|first=Alan|date=2011|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9781597973939|pages=103|language=en}} However, at the time, Abrams knew that "[Oliver] North was encouraging, coordinating and directing the activities of the contra-resupply operation and that North was in contact with the private citizens who were behind the lethal resupply fights."{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm|title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters|first=Lawrence|last=Walsh|date=1993}}

During investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel tasked with investigating the case, prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams. In 1991, Abrams admitted that he knew more than he acknowledged in his congressional testimony, cooperated with Walsh and entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress.{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm|title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel For Iran/Contra Matters Vol. I: Investigations and Prosecutions|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence E.|date=August 4, 1993|work=Summary of Prosecutions|publisher=U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia|access-date=November 16, 2009}} For failing to cooperate, he would have faced felony charges of perjury over his congressional testimony.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807848579/our-own-backyard|title=Our Own Backyard|last=Leogrande|first=William M.|website=University of North Carolina Press|pages=479–480|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-15}} He was sentenced to a $50 fine, probation for two years, and 100 hours of community service. Abrams was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in December 1992.{{cite news |title=Former Bush Mideast Adviser Elliott Abrams Named U.S. Special Envoy for Venezuela |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-former-bush-mideast-adviser-named-u-s-special-envoy-for-venezuela-1.6873578 |work=Haaretz |date=January 26, 2019}}

In 1997, Abrams was publicly sanctioned by the District of Columbia Bar for giving false testimony to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. Although several of the court's judges recommended disbarment, the court ultimately declined to disbar Abrams over questions related to the effect of Abrams' presidential pardon for his prior criminal conduct.{{cite web |title=In re Elliott Abrams |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1280741.html |publisher=Dist. of Columbia Ct. App. No. 91-BG-1518 |access-date=13 February 2019}}

President George W. Bush appointed Abrams to the post of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations at the National Security Council on June 25, 2001.{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010628-12.html|title=Statement by the Press Secretary|date=June 28, 2001|publisher=The White House|access-date=November 16, 2009}} Abrams was appointed special assistant to the President and the NSC's senior director for Near East and North African Affairs on December 2, 2002.{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021202-14.html|title=Statement by the Press Secretary|date=December 2, 2002|publisher=The White House|access-date=November 16, 2009}}

Human rights groups and commentators expressed disquiet over his White House appointment owing to his disreputable conduct and conviction in the Iran–Contra affair investigation and his role in overseeing the Reagan administration's foreign policy in Latin America.{{cite news|url=http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2001c/081001/081001f.htm|title=Appointees Spark Controversy|last=Cooper|first=Linda|author2=Hodge, Jim|date=August 10, 2001|newspaper=National Catholic Reporter|access-date=November 16, 2009}}{{cite news|url=http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2001c/081001/081001s.htm|title= Editorial: Appointments Insult Human Rights Cause|date=August 1, 2001|newspaper=National Catholic Reporter|access-date=November 16, 2009}}

The Observer wrote that Abrams had advance knowledge of, and "gave a nod to," the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo Chávez.{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html|title=Venezuela coup linked to Bush team|last=Vulliamy|first=Ed|author-link=Ed Vulliamy|date=April 21, 2002|newspaper=The Observer|location=London}}

File:President George W Bush Meeting with Elliott Abrams, JD Crouch, Corry Schiermeyer, and Scott McClellan About Gaza Settlements.jpg, Corry Schiermeyer, and Scott McClellan meet with President George W. Bush in 2005]]

File:Video Teleconference on Burma in Recognition of International Human Rights Day.jpg in recognition of Human Rights Day, 2007]]

The Intercept has reported that Abrams had a key role{{Cite news|last=Kessler|first=Glenn|date=8 February 2007|title=Rice Denies Seeing Iranian Proposal in '03|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702408.html|access-date=10 August 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post}} in disrupting a peace plan proposed by Iran, right after the U.S. invasion to Iraq in 2003. Abrams' office received this plan by fax. They should have passed the plan to Condoleezza Rice. But she never saw it. Later, Abrams's spokesperson was asked about the plan and he said “he had no memory of any such fax.”{{Cite web|last=Schwarz|first=Jon|date=30 January 2019|title=Elliott Abrams, Trump's Pick to Bring "Democracy" to Venezuela, Has Spent His Life Crushing Democracy|url=https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/elliott-abrams-venezuela-coup|access-date=10 August 2020|website=The Intercept}}

On February 2, 2005, Bush appointed Abrams deputy national security adviser for Global Democracy Strategy,{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-10.html |title=Personnel Announcement|date=February 2, 2005|publisher=The White House|access-date=November 16, 2009}} where he served until the end of his administration on January 20, 2009. Abrams accompanied Condoleezza Rice as a primary adviser on her visits to the Middle East in late July 2006 in the course of discussions relating to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/washington/10rice.html|title=Rice's Hurdles on Middle East Begin at Home|last=Cooper|first=Helene|author-link=Helene Cooper|date=August 10, 2006|work=New York Times}}

On May 16, 2016, Abrams wrote a historical piece in The Weekly Standard{{cite news|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/when-you-cant-stand-your-candidate/article/2002283|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170210210712/http://www.weeklystandard.com/when-you-cant-stand-your-candidate/article/2002283|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2017|title=When You Can't Stand Your Candidate|last=Abrams|first=Elliott|date=May 16, 2016|work=Weekly Standard}} predicting that Donald Trump would "fail colossally" in the 2016 election to which he drew parallels with the 1972 election.{{cite news |title=Trump's Neocon? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trumps-neocon-elliott-abrams/515784/ |work=The Atlantic |date=February 6, 2017}}

On December 23, 2016, Abrams, a strong supporter of Israel, criticized Barack Obama for "undermining Israel's elected government, prevent its action against Iran's nuclear weapons program, and create as much daylight as possible between the United States and Israel." Abrams condemned Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/obamas-disgraceful-and-harmful-legacy-on-israel/article/2006041|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170115062332/http://www.weeklystandard.com/obamas-disgraceful-and-harmful-legacy-on-israel/article/2006041|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 15, 2017|title=Obama's Disgraceful and Harmful Legacy on Israel|date=23 December 2016|magazine=The Weekly Standard|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{cite news |title=Elliott Abrams: Obama Feeds Israel to the Jackals |url=https://www.newsweek.com/elliott-abrams-obama-feeds-israel-jackals-536928 |work=Newsweek |date=December 30, 2016}}{{cite news |title=Staunch Israel Supporter Elliott Abrams Leading Nominee for U.S Deputy Secretary of State |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-pro-israel-elliott-abrams-is-frontrunner-for-u-s-deputy-secretary-of-state-1.5495458 |work=Haaretz |date=February 8, 2017}}

In February 2017, it was reported that Abrams was Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's first pick for Deputy Secretary of State, but that Tillerson was overruled by Trump.{{cite news|title=Trump rejects veteran GOP foreign policy aide Elliott Abrams for State Dept. job|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-rejects-veteran-gop-foreign-policy-aide-elliott-abrams-for-state-department-job/2017/02/10/52e53ce6-efbd-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html|last=Gearan|first=Anne|date=February 10, 2017|newspaper=Washington Post}} Trump aides were supportive of Abrams, but Trump opposed him because of Abrams' opposition during the campaign.

Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he holds positions on the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG), Center for Security Policy & National Secretary Advisory Council, Committee for a Free Lebanon, and the Project for the New American Century.{{cite book|last=Wedel|first=J.R.|title=Shadow Elite|url=https://archive.org/details/shadowelitehowwo0000wede|url-access=registration|year=2009|publisher=New York: Basic Books}} He is a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and maintained a CFR blog called "Pressure Points" about U.S. foreign policy and human rights.{{cite web|title=Elliott Abrams|url=http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Abrams_Elliott|access-date=12 October 2011}}

He was on the faculty of Georgetown University.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/02/24/georgetown-gets-10-million-for-holocaust-research-as-jewish-studies-grow-at-catholic-school/|title=Georgetown gets $10 million for Holocaust research as Jewish studies grow at Catholic school|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

File:Elliott Abrams Speaks on Venezuela (45970132725).jpg in January 2019 ]]

On January 25, 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appointed Abrams as the United States' Special Representative for Venezuela. This came two days after American recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president, thus advocating for regime change in Venezuela.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-envoy-venezuela-1128562/|title=Elliott Abrams, prominent D.C. neocon, named special envoy for Venezuela|date=25 January 2019 |publisher=Politico}}{{cite news|url=https://mondediplo.com/2019/03/03venezuela-abrams|title=Return of Elliott Abrams as special envoy on Venezuela, Thirty years a neocon provocateur|last=Alterman|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Alterman|date=March 2019|work=Le Monde Diplomatique|access-date=March 6, 2019}}

Abrams's career and record on foreign policy was questioned by some opposition members in Congress. For example, in February 2019, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota questioned whether Abrams was the correct choice for such a role because of his conviction of lying to Congress about his role in the Iran-Contra affair, and his historical support for previous instances of right-wing regime change in Central and South America in the 1970s and 1980s.{{cite news |last= Bonner|first=Raymond|date=February 15, 2019 |title=What Did Elliott Abrams Have to Do With the El Mozote Massacre?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/ilhan-omar-elliott-abrams-and-el-mozote-massacre/582889/|work=The Atlantic |access-date=February 15, 2019|author-link=Raymond Bonner}}{{cite news|author=|date=February 14, 2019 |title=Ilhan Omar Grills Trump's Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams on His Role in US-Backed Genocide in 1980s|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2019/2/14/ilhan_omar_grills_venezuela_envoy_elliott|work=Democracy Now! |access-date=February 16, 2019}} Omar particularly criticized Abrams's description of the Reagan administration's "record in El Salvador [as] one of fabulous achievement," in light of the El Mozote massacre, a mass killing of over 800 Salvadorian civilians carried out by US-backed and trained "death squads."{{Cite web |last=Schwarz |first=Jon |date=January 30, 2019 |title=Elliott Abrams, Trump's Pick to Bring "Democracy" to Venezuela, Has Spent His Life Crushing Democracy |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/elliott-abrams-venezuela-coup/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=The Intercept |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Alterman |first=Eric |date=2020-01-30 |title=Confirmed: Elliott Abrams's Defense of Mass Murder Was Based on Lies |language=en-US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/world/elliott-abrams-mozote/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |issn=0027-8378}}{{Cite news |last=Gies |first=Heather |date=2019-02-15 |title=El Salvador massacre: forensics teams dig for remains as US envoy faces grilling |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/el-salvador-massacre-el-mozote |access-date=2023-02-03 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last1=Gugliotta |first1=Guy |last2=Farah |first2=Douglas |date=1993-03-21 |title=12 YEARS OF TORTURED TRUTH ON EL SALVADOR |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/03/21/12-years-of-tortured-truth-on-el-salvador/9432bb6f-fbd0-4b18-b254-29caa919dc98/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |issn=0190-8286}}

Upon the resignation of Brian Hook, Abrams was selected to succeed him as United States Special Representative for Iran.{{Cite news|last1=Sanger|first1=David E.|last2=Crowley|first2=Michael|date=2020-08-06|title=Iran Envoy Brian Hook, a 'Survivor' on Trump's Team, to Quit|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/us/politics/iran-us-brian-hook.html|access-date=2020-08-06|issn=0362-4331}} Both positions were merged into the US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela as of September 1, 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/biographies/elliott-abrams/|title=Elliott Abrams|publisher=U.S. Department of State|year=2020|access-date=November 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925064811/https://www.state.gov/biographies/elliott-abrams/|archive-date=September 25, 2020}}

In 2021, Abrams founded a new group called the Vandenberg Coalition, named after Arthur Vandenberg, who helped build the foundations for NATO after World War II. The coalition involves Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department official, Randy Scheunemann, a neocon lobbist and former head of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Doug Feith, a former Defense Department planner for the Iraq War, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

On 3 July 2023,{{cite web | url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/07/25/nominations-sent-to-the-senate-115/ | title=Nominations Sent to the Senate | date=July 25, 2023 }} Abrams was nominated to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy by President Biden. He still needs to be confirmed by the Senate before serving on the commission.{{cite news |last1=Forrest |first1=Jack |title=Biden nominates controversial former Trump-appointee to Public Diplomacy Commission |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/03/politics/elliott-abrams-public-diplomacy-nomination/index.html |access-date=6 July 2023 |work=CNN |date=3 July 2023}}

Since the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, his focus has been on supporting Israel's war in Gaza, along with the need to extend the war to Iran, acclaiming it is one of the primary financial sponsors of Hamas. This is despite the fact that President Biden made it clear that there is “no clear evidence” that Iran was involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel – a statement that the Iranian government has also strongly emphasized.{{Cite web |last=Fang |first=Lee |date=2023-10-18 |title=Republican hawks now want a war with Iran |url=https://unherd.com/2023/10/republican-hawks-now-want-a-war-with-iran/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=UnHerd |language=en-GB}}

Abrams is neoconservative{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/disciplining-terror/8507D81A57571A7DC8B1AF77F35EDCC3 |title=Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented 'Terrorism' |last=Stampnitzky |first=Lisa |date=May 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=176 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139208161 |isbn=9781139208161 |language=en|access-date=2019-02-14}}{{cite book |title=The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy |author-link=John Mearsheimer |last1=Mearsheimer |first1=John J. |author-link2=Stephen Walt |last2=Walt |first2=Stephen |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-374-17772-0 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780374177720/page/129 129] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780374177720/page/129 }}{{Cite web|url=https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-road-to-iraq.html |title=The Road to Iraq |last=Idrees Ahmad |first=Muhammed |website=Edinburgh University Press Books |page=8 |language=en |access-date=2019-02-14 }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/26/elliott-abrams-venezuela-us-special-envoy |title=US diplomat convicted over Iran-Contra appointed special envoy for Venezuela |last=Borger |first=Julian |date=2019-01-26 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2019-02-14 |language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite book|title=The Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America's Future |last=Unger |first=Craig |date=2007-11-13 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781416553595 |pages=38 |language=en}} and was one of the Bush administration's intellectual architects of the Iraq War.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-25/pompeo-elliott-abrams-venezuela |title=Pompeo Hires Former Trump Critic as Point Person on Venezuela |date=January 25, 2019 |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |access-date=2019-02-14}} Abrams is also pro-Israel.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/neocon-and-iran-contra-figure-elliott-abrams-in-line-for-state-department-job/2017/02/09/3a9598a2-ee3c-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html|title=Neocon and Iran-contra figure Elliott Abrams in line for State Department job|date=2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Abrams originally opposed Trump's candidacy for president, writing an op-ed in The Weekly Standard titled "When You Can't Stand Your Candidate."{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/25/elliott-abrams-joins-trump-administration-venezuela-envoy/2681170002/|title=Foreign policy hawk Elliott Abrams joins Trump administration as Venezuela envoy|website=USA TODAY|language=en|access-date=2019-02-14}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/05/how-neocons-captured-donald-trump/|title=How the neocons captured Donald Trump|date=2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Abrams supported Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio during the Republican primaries for the 2016 presidential election. After his time working in the Trump administration, he confirmed that he has continued to believe that Donald Trump was unfit to be president. He agreed with Senator Mitch McConnell's assessment that Trump provoked the January 6 United States Capitol attack.{{Cite news|url=https://forward.com/news/463100/after-serving-in-his-administration-elliott-abrams-hasnt-changed-his/https://forward.com/news/463100/after-serving-in-his-administration-elliott-abrams-hasnt-changed-his/|title=After serving in his administration, Elliott Abrams hasn't changed his (negative) views about Trump|last=Kornbluh|first=Jacob|date=2021-01-27|work=The Forward|access-date=2022-11-13}}

Abrams gave his impressions of working personally with three different U.S. Presidents, and the differences between their presidential styles, in an interview in 2023.{{cite web |date=September 11, 2023 |title=Conversations with Friends: Elliott Abrams, former Deputy US National Security Advisor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHfiux4FPg |website=YouTube}}

Through Senator Moynihan, Abrams was introduced to Rachel Decter, the stepdaughter of Moynihan's friend Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary. They were married from 1980 until her death in June 2013. He has two sons and one daughter.Elliott Abrams – Undue Process, p. 80.

• {{cite book|title=Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-1-107-03119-7}}
• {{cite book|title=Democracy: How Direct?: Views from the Founding Era and the Polling Era|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7425-2318-0}}
• {{cite book |title=Close Calls: Intervention, Terrorism, Missile Defense, and "Just War" Today |editor=Abrams, Elliott |editor2=Johnson, James Turner |publisher=Ethics and Public Policy Center |date=June 1998 |isbn=978-0-89633-187-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/closecallsinterv0000unse }}
• {{cite book|title=Honor Among Nations: Intangible Interests and Foreign Policy|editor=Abrams, Elliott |editor2=Kagan, Donald|publisher=Ethics & Public Policy Center |date=April 1998|isbn=978-0-89633-188-4}}
• {{cite book|title=Security and Sacrifice: Isolation, Intervention, and American Foreign Policy|publisher=Hudson Institute|date=January 1995 |isbn=978-1-55813-049-4}}
• {{cite book|title=Shield and Sword: Neutrality and Engagement in American Foreign Policy|publisher=The Free Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-02-900165-3}}
• {{cite book|title=Undue Process A Story of How Political Differences are Turned into Crimes|publisher=Free Press|date=October 1992|isbn=978-0-02-900167-7|url=https://archive.org/details/undueprocessstor00abra}}

• {{cite book|title=The Influence of Faith|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7425-0762-3 }}
• {{cite book|title=Secularism, Spirituality, and the Future of American Jewry|editor=Abrams, Elliott |editor2=Dalin, David|publisher=Ethics & Public Policy Center |date=February 1999 |isbn=978-0-89633-190-7}}
• {{cite book|title=Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in a Christian America|publisher=Free Press|date=June 1997|isbn=978-0-684-82511-3|url=https://archive.org/details/faithorfearhowje00abra}}

• List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States

{{reflist}}

• Kamiya, Gary. "[http://www.salon.com/2002/12/10/abrams/ Bush's frightening Middle East appointment]." Salon. December 10, 2002.

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110215194338/http://www.weeklystandard.com/author/elliott-abrams The Weekly Standard archive]
• {{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2113690/|title=Elliott AbramsFrom Iran-Contra to Bush's Democracy Czar|last=Crowley|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Crowley (journalist)|date=February 17, 2005|magazine=Slate Magazine|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite magazine|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15896208/site/newsweek/ |title=The Last Man Standing|last=Hirsh |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hirsh (journalist)|author2=Ephron, Dan|date=December 4, 2006|magazine=Newsweek |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128161755/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15896208/site/newsweek/ |archive-date=November 28, 2006|url-status=dead |access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite magazine|url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_v19/ai_4973377/ |title=Elliott Abrams: The Teflon Assistant Secretary|last=Alterman|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Alterman|date=May 2007|magazine=Washington Monthly|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite magazine|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/998zbrfl.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209064501/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/998zbrfl.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 9, 2013|title=Mr Rice Guy: The significance of Elliott Abrams's new job |last=Barnes|first=Fred |author-link=Fred Barnes (journalist)|date=December 16, 2002|magazine=The Weekly Standard|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=elliott_abrams|title=Profile of Elliott Abrams|publisher=Center for Grassroots Oversight|year=2009|access-date=November 16, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306215750/http://www.cooperativeresearch.org//entity.jsp?entity=elliott_abrams|archive-date=March 6, 2008}}
• {{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/|title=National Security Council homepage|date=January 19, 2009|publisher=George W. Bush White House|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.beliefnet.com/Columnists/a-j/Elliott-Abrams.aspx|title=Profile of Columnist Elliott Abrams|publisher=Belief.Net|year=2009|access-date=November 16, 2009|archive-date=June 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044710/http://www.beliefnet.com/Columnists/a-j/Elliott-Abrams.aspx|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2002/0212abrams.html|title=Neoconservatives Consolidate Control over U.S. Mideast Policy|last=Lobe|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Lobe|date=December 6, 2002|publisher=Foreign Policy In Focus|access-date=November 16, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142820/http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2002/0212abrams.html|archive-date=August 5, 2009}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/18/allen2518.html|title=Public Serpent Iran-contra villain Elliott Abrams is back in action|last=Allen|first=Terry J.|date=August 6, 2001|publisher=In These Times|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• {{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v9/9.06/8nuremberg.html|title=A Nuremberg Trial for the US Government |date=March 31, 1998|last=Rose|first=Charlie|author-link=Charlie Rose|work=Transcript of interview with Elliott Abrams and Allan Nairn|publisher=Charlie Rose Show|access-date=November 16, 2009}}
• [http://www.nationalreview.com/media/betweenthecovers/341473 Audio interview with Abrams on Israel and Palestine]
• {{C-SPAN|1470}}
• [https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/FY17%20Membership%20Roster.pdf Membership] at the Council on Foreign Relations

{{s-start}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before=Richard McCall}}

{{s-ttl|title=Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs|years=1981}}

{{s-aft|after=Gregory Newell}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Patt Derian}}

{{s-ttl|title=Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs|years=1981–1985}}

{{s-aft|after=Richard Schifter}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Langhorne Motley}}

{{s-ttl|title=Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs|years=1985–1989}}

{{s-aft|after=Bernard Aronson}}

{{s-end}}

{{Neoconservatism}}

{{Iran–United States relations}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Elliott}}

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American diplomats

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American lawyers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:American political writers

Category:The American Spectator people

Category:American Zionists

Category:George W. Bush administration personnel

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Human rights in Latin America

Category:Iran–Contra affair

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers

Category:New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes

Category:New York (state) Republicans

Category:Lawyers from New York City

Category:Reagan administration personnel

Category:People pardoned by George H. W. Bush

Category:United States assistant secretaries of state

Category:United States National Security Council staffers

Category:United States presidential advisors

Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C.

Category:The Weekly Standard people

Category:Writers from New York City

Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:Little Red School House alumni

Category:Members of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America

Category:United States Deputy National Security Advisors