For many years, I have worked with The Capitol Institute – a nonprofit organization founded by my colleague and friend Maria Maalouf, dedicated to facilitating dialogue and bridging understanding between the Middle East and the United States. Our mission is straightforward but urgent: to educate and inform international communities about U.S. foreign policy, explore strategies for homeland security, and connect the global policy community in pursuit of lasting peace.

Maria Maalouf is no ordinary voice in this space. A prominent Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, and political analyst currently living in political exile in the United States, she has spent her career as one of the most outspoken critics of Hezbollah, the Iranian regime, and the Assad regime. Her credibility is built not on proximity to power, but on the courage to challenge it.

Which is why what she brought back from Mar-a-Lago matters.

A Strategic Conversation, Not a Ceremonial One

Maria recently met with President Donald Trump at his Florida residence. By her own account, it was not a photo opportunity. It was a direct, unscripted, and outcome-focused strategic conversation — the kind that rarely makes the press........

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