Unable to keep the $400 million cash drop to Iran off the front pages – no matter how much they tried – the Hillbama administration came out swinging today with denials, conspiracy-theory-accusations, and partisan accusations as the mainstream media was forced by the utterly incredible actions of The White House to ask the uncomfortable questions.
Bloomberg reports that critics of Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran say the payment was ransom, a contention the White House has strongly denied; that it will encourage Iran to take more Americans hostage; and that it’s likely the money will be funneled into terrorist groups.
“If true, this report confirms our longstanding suspicion that the administration paid a ransom in exchange for Americans unjustly detained in Iran,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a statement.
“It would also mark another chapter in the ongoing saga of misleading the American people to sell this dangerous nuclear deal.”
Obama administration officials have, of course, dismissed the controversy as old news, noting that the settlement was fully disclosed by the White House and State Department at the time the Iran nuclear deal was announced.
“The United States of America does not pay ransom and doesn’t negotiate ransoms with any country — we never have and we’re not doing that now,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday in Buenos Aires.
As The Hill reports, President Obama chastised the press for their coverage of the payment, noting that the deal with Iran was announced months ago as part of a larger diplomatic settlement.
“This wasn’t some nefarious deal,” Obama said.
“It’s been interesting to watch this story surface,” the president said. “Some of you may recall, we announced these payments in January. Many months ago. There wasn’t a secret, we announced them to all of you.”
“What we have is the manufacturing of outrage on a story that we disclosed in January,” he added later.
“The notion that we would somehow start now in this high-profile way, and announce it to the world, even as we’re looking in the faces of other families whose loved ones are being held hostage and say to them, ‘we don’t pay ransom,’ defies logic,” Obama said.
Defies logic indeed… like the logic of “keeping your doctor if you like him” or the logic of “no boots on the ground in Syria”? But to summarize, today we got “look over there at Donald Trump”-distractions and “We do not negotiate ransoms with any country” jabbed Kerry; “We do not pay ransom for hostages” lambasted Obama; “it defies logic” snapped Earnest…
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But one big question has yet to be answered…
For the second day, the administration refuses to answer one simple question – did the hostage’s plane leave before or after the plane arrived carrying pallets full of $400 million worth of non-USD-denominated cash?
Yesterday the question was asked by James Rosen… and not answered… “I might be able to you an answer on that…”
and today, none other than The Associated Press’ Matt Lee asked again… “we’re still looking into it”
Still no answer…
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Of course, we suspect the explanation is simple and the two planes just happened to coincidentally arrive on the tarmac at the same time and the hostages and the money carriers merely discussed grandkids and golf games…
