Aaron Klein

Aaron Klein (אהרון קליין; born 1979 ) is an American-Israeli conservative political commentator, journalist, strategist, bestselling author, and senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The program previously aired on WABC in New York until early 2014.

His show included his calling and interviewing terrorists on the air.

"Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" annually made Talker's "Heavy Hundred" list of top American weekend radio programs, considered the standard for talk radio ratings.

His program was one of two weekend programs in the U.S. that made the list most years.

The show was reported to have over one million weekly listeners.

Klein played a role in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

He was previously an American weekend radio talk show host, author, and senior reporter and Middle Eastern bureau chief for Breitbart News and a weekly columnist for The Jewish Press.

Klein grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Torah Academy Boys High School.

In his book Schmoozing with Terrorists, Klein describes his upbringing: "I was a Talmud-studying Modern Orthodox Jew. I attended Jewish religious schooling my entire life from religious elementary school until college. I came from a tight-knit orthodox Jewish community."

At Yeshiva University in New York City, Klein edited the undergraduate bimonthly student newspaper The Commentator and changed his major from biology to English upon becoming editor.

"After determining that the publication was decidedly underwhelming in journalistic ambition—'a glorified synagogue newsletter,' Klein called it—he tried to up the paper's metabolism by publishing a series of articles that were highly critical of the school administration," according to a book by New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters.

Articles published in The Commentator regarding events such as use of an eight-million-dollar gift to the school and the removal of a secretary, written while Klein was a co-editor in chief, allegedly caused the school administration to remove some issues from circulation.

This prompted the paper's editorial board to threaten to sue the university, generating national media attention.

Yeshiva University later signed a contract with Klein in which it agreed to discontinue the practice and reimburse The Commentator for the confiscated issues.

Steve Bannon, chief strategist for Donald J. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, credited Klein with being the "genius" who came up with the idea of bringing Bill Clinton's female sexual assault accusers to a presidential debate held in St. Louis, Missouri, in October 2016 between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The debate took place as Trump was facing mounting pressure to step down following the release of the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was caught on camera making controversial statements about women.

Klein's strategy to bring Clinton's accusers to the debate and sit them in the front row across from him and facing Hillary Clinton on stage was widely reported as helping to turn Trump's campaign around at that time and regain the narrative.

An article in The New York Times documented how Trump defused the Access Hollywood furor with Klein not only strategizing but physically bringing the Clinton assault accusers to the debate and surprising the media: "The stunt came about thanks to a 'norm-shattering' partnership between the Trump campaign and Aaron Klein, a 36-year-old reporter for Bannon's website, Breitbart News, who tracked down the women and cajoled them into attending.""In the history of modern presidential politics, no candidate had pulled off such a ruthless act of vengeance in public," New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters added.

"It changed the game, proving to Trump and his allies that there was nothing off-limits anymore."

The Times continued: "So pivotal was Klein's role in Trump’s upset victory that Jared Kushner later told him, 'My father-in-law wouldn't be president without you.'"

After several years working as the Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily, Klein served as senior reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief for Breitbart News.

He was recruited to that position by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who served as executive chairman of Breitbart News.

Klein also had a weekly column in the Jewish Press.

Klein hosted a weekly radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on Salem Media Group-owned conservative talk stations, WNYM in the New York City area and WNTP in Philadelphia.

In 2019, Klein advised Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu while the premier was preparing a public campaign against the Israeli attorney general's decision to indict him.

Klein was chief strategist for Netanyahu's December 2019 Likud leadership primary in which Netanyahu scored a landslide victory.

Klein then served as chief strategist for Netanyahu's third successive general election after two previous elections failed to produce a clear majority government.

Netanyahu's Likud party won more votes than any party in Israeli electoral history, with Likud crediting Klein's strategy for historic turnout from its voters.

He served as campaign manager for several of Netanyahu's election campaigns and chief strategist for Netanyahu's 2020 election campaign that resulted in a rotating unity government with Netanyahu at the helm and his 2022 campaign in which Netanyahu won a full-term.

Klein was Netanyahu's full-time strategic advisor in government from 2020 to 2021, during the period Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel's 36th government and he serves as a strategic advisor to Netanyahu during Israel's 37th government.

At his campaign's nationally televised "victory" event, Netanyahu publicly credited Klein with his victory in the March 2020 election, which produced a unity government in which Netanyahu would serve as prime minister for 18 months.

In June 2020, Netanyahu hired Klein as a full-time strategic advisor.

"Klein left a full-time successful career as a reporter to help as Israel finds itself facing unprecedented challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, amid the international debate on the issue of applying sovereignty [in the West Bank] and other pressing matters," the Likud stated.

Klein served as Netanyahu's strategist during the period that Netanyahu signed four peace deals with Arab nations and oversaw Israel's successful corona vaccine program.

Following his hiring, Klein was described in Israeli media reports as one of Netanyahu's closest advisors and he is referred to in Hebrew media outlets as "Bibi whisperer," using Netanyahu's nickname.

Netanyahu appointed Klein as campaign manager and chief of his March 2021 election campaign.

"Klein is one of the most talented strategists we ever worked with and he is tirelessly dedicated to safeguarding the State of Israel," Jonatan Urich, a Likud party spokesman, said.

Klein served as strategic advisor to Netanyahu during the 2022 election, in which Netanyahu won a decisive victory.

Klein serves as a strategic advisor to Netanyahu during Netanyahu's 6th term in office.