Congressional and foreign policy critics of former President Barack Obama’s engagement with Iran have long suspected there was much more to it than just a “nuclear agreement” that many felt was a bad deal for the U.S. and our friends in the Middle East. Some believed that Obama worked to directly undermine the lone democracy in the region and long-standing American ally, Israel, as evidenced by his oft-contentious meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, some two years after the 44th president has left office, we’ve learned that the critics were right to suspect him. Not only did Obama push through the nuclear deal in violation of federal statutes and without the constitutional requirement of Senate treaty approval, it appears as though he attempted to undermine the Israeli government as he did the incoming Trump administration. An analysis published recently in the Columbia Law Review laid out several instances where the Obama regime failed to meet legal and constitutional standards in the pursuit of a nuclear deal at any cost. What’s more, the analysis points out that the Obama administration not only spied on Israel — which isn’t altogether irregular because Israel conducts similar operations against the U.S. and other allies — but also critics of the Iran deal, which included private pro-Israel organizations and members of Congress, in clear violation of U.S. surveillance laws. “The Obama Administration’s efforts to sign and implement a nuclear agreement with Iran with limited if any congressional input, and at times in violation of federal law, is a particularly important example of Democratic constitu­tional hardball,” the CLR noted.  “To sell the deal,” the analysis continued, “the Administration found it necessary to lie to the American public about its origins. The Administration began secret negotiations with Iran in mid-2012.” (Related: Is the NSA still SPYING on American citizens? New IG report warns of ‘increased RISK’ to civil liberties.) At the time, James Rosen, then Fox News’ chief White House correspondent, asked about the negotiations, but was rebuffed — lied to — by a State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, who said “government-to-government” talks were not underway (they were). What’s more, the State Department later deliberately cut out the embarrassing questions from a press briefing video, The Washington Post reported.