An Israeli official dubbed President Trump a “colossus” for the ages after orchestrating a historic Middle East peace deal this past week.

But it’s as much the hostages he helped as the history he made that Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley will remember.

“He has had a terrific week,” Hawley told The Heartlander in an exclusive interview Thursday, “and the best part about it is that it is so meaningful for real people. I mean, getting a hostage deal, ending that conflict, and allowing the hostages to come home is a huge achievement.

“And it means much, including to American families who had hostages there being held by the Palestinians, held by Hamas, who are terrorists, by the way. Let’s never lose sight of that. 

“So, I think this has been a tremendous accomplishment. I hope that his further efforts to bring an end to the conflict overall will bear fruit. And I hope his effort to end the Ukraine-Russia War will also bear fruit and prevent the United States from getting drawn further into that conflict. 

“That, I think, is so, so important. It’s something that he campaigned on. I know he’s very focused on it. He was talking to me about it just the other day. And I hope that this is something he’s able to get a result on as well.”

Seeking peace, security at home

Ironically, the president has had a tougher time striking a deal with Democrats than with Hamas. But he’s seeking peace in the perilous streets of America’s crime-ridden major cities, most of which are Democrat-run.

The domestic terrorist organization Antifa, and other rogue anti-immigration-enforcement elements, have been waging what resembles a guerilla war against the federal government.

“Well, one might use the word ‘insurrection,’” Hawley remarked, wryly using the term Democrats branded the Jan. 6 protest with.

“I think what it shows you is a total contempt for law and order, an attempt, frankly, to overturn the rule of law. Whether it’s state law enforcement we’re talking about or federal law enforcement, Antifa has been attacking ICE; they have been attacking FBI agents; they’ve been attacking border patrol agents. 

“This happened in Chicago, of course, just yesterday. 

“So, we’re seeing, really, this incredible militancy on the part of the left and a willingness to use violence all over the place, time and time again. And it needs to end. 

“And I think the president’s message – which is, ‘listen, we’re going to have law and order, we’re going to restore the rule of law in this country’ – is exactly the right one, because it’s what people need. People need to be safe. They need to be able to count on the law being there for them. 

“They need to be able to send their kids to a bus stop and not have them get shot at, for heaven’s sake. And in so many cities today in this country, you can’t do that. And it’s because of the loony left. So, I think he’s on the right track. 

“And listen, I would just say to all of these lefty leaders out there, if you really cared about the people who you’re supposed to be serving, you would be welcoming federal law enforcement resources and saying let’s work together to bring the rule of law everywhere.”

No new info in Biden spy scandal — but new twist

Meanwhile, Hawley says he’s learned nothing new about the Biden administration’s brazen spying on the personal cell phones of eight Republican U.S. senators and one GOP congressman.

“No, nothing more, which is frustrating to me because we need to know every single detail: who signed off on it, who knew about it, who authorized it of course, what was the extent of it. I mean, right now we don’t really have any idea. 

“We know they tracked all of our incoming calls, our outgoing calls, our location, some of our metadata. We know they tried to access private, personal communication. We don’t know if they were successful in that or not. Obviously, this makes a big difference. 

“Also, why did the phone companies just turn over all of these private logs without so much as a fight, as they apparently did? There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered here, 

“But listen, we need answers on a lot of things. We need to know why the FBI was sending SWAT teams to the homes of pro-lifers. We need to know why the FBI activated their anti-terrorism division against parents at school board meetings. We need to know who wrote that memo trying to recruit spies into Catholic parishes. 

“We don’t have answers on any of these things. And we need answers on every single one of them, which is why I think we need a special prosecutor devoted to getting the answers to these questions and stopping the weaponization that we saw in the last four years.”

Biden’s chilling “Arctic Frost” spying on the senators is just one more – albeit alarming – dimension of his administration’s snooping on political rivals. Last month, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed the supposedly Jan. 6-linked probe also targeted 92 Republican or conservative groups and individuals.

Moreover, Just the News disclosed just this week that former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger – a member of the Democrats’ heavily partisan Jan. 6th committee – had supplied the Biden FBI with the committee’s 2021 surveillance that included “30 million lines of phone data mapping contacts between conservatives and the [first] Trump White House …”

Why would a supposed Republican congressman do that?

“Oh, because he hates his country,” Hawley opines. “Listen, I don’t know. That guy is unfathomable to me. You remember last time when he was in our state, he was busy shooting a reporter and then he fled the state. As you might recall, the sheriff who was in charge of doing the report couldn’t get a hold of Kinzinger – for a criminal report! – because he had fled the state without filing the necessary report about shooting a guy. And then he denied it. 

“This guy’s unbelievable. I mean, really unbelievable. You read the sheriff’s report, you’ll see it. So, I don’t know why he does anything he does. 

“But I can tell you this, that what went on with that J6 committee, the Nancy Pelosi committee, they doctored evidence, they falsified data, and then they deleted all of it and refused to turn it over.

“You talk about a rogue committee that was really testing the bounds of the law, if not breaking the law themselves – all for what? All for personal gain. It’s sad. It’s a sad, sad chapter in our history, and he’s a big part of it.”