WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The White House was unaware of a meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Navy analyst who spent three decades in prison for spying for Israel, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Huckabee met Pollard in July at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The meeting was kept off Huckabee’s official schedule and caught U.S. officials by surprise, the Times reported.
Leavitt told reporters that although the administration had no advance knowledge of the encounter, “the president stands by our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, and all that he is doing for the United States and Israel.”
Pollard, in an interview with an Israeli news channel, said the meeting with Huckabee took place at his request.
“I had originally requested the interview for a very personal reason,” he said to Israel’s i24 News. “I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for all the efforts that he had expended on my behalf when I was in prison.”
