Legislative leaders continued to express concern on Friday about the Obama administration’s admission that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was contingent upon the release of U.S. detainees.
U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY) said that the administration’s decision to “pay a ransom for the release of five Americans” was made even worse by the administration’s refusal to “play it straight” with the American people.
“Instead, the State Department is engaging in semantics that insult the intelligence of the public,” Katko said. “The fact is, $400 million was sent to the Iranian regime contingent on the release of American prisoners. That’s a ransom, plain and simple, and it sets a very dangerous precedent.”
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said that the State Department admitted that the $400 million payment was directly linked to the release of Americans held hostage weeks after President Barack Obama assured the public that his administration had not paid for their release.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that President Obama sold the American people and Congress a bill of goods with his disastrous Iran nuclear deal, offering the world’s largest state sponsor of terror concession after concession, including a path to a nuclear weapon,” Tillis said. “He continues to deliberately mislead the American public about it to this day.”
U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) said that the State Department’s admission confirmed what he and many of his colleagues had previously asserted – the $400 million exchange was a ransom payment.
“After months of attempted cover-ups, President Obama’s administration has finally admitted that they directly rewarded Iran for its hostage-taking enterprise, putting a price on the head of every American,” Hill said. “This is foreign policy gone awry, and the President and our government officials that were in charge of this exchange have much to answer for.”