By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, September 22, US Representative Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) said, that the Obama Administration did not consult with the military before sending ransom payments to Iran.
Congresswoman Roby said in a statement, “More keeps getting exposed about this terrible Iran ransom payment. The President didn’t consult with the Department of Defense about sending hundreds of millions in cash (foreign currency, mind you) to Iran. This statement is from Bloomberg News, which reported on today’s Senate Armed Services hearing. This is why oversight hearings are important – to expose the truth.”
Rep. Roby said, “The House tonight is voting on HR5931, the Prohibiting Future Payments to Iran Act. This bill outlaws the United States Government from making any cash payments to the Government of Iran until the President certifies Iran is not a primary money laundering concern or a state sponsor of terrorism. The bill states that the policy of the United States Government not to pay ransom or release prisoners for the purpose of securing the release of United States citizens taken hostage abroad.”
Roby shared original reporting by Bloomberg’s Eli Lake, which charged that President Barack Obama did not ask top military officials for their opinion in his decision in January to send cash to Iran conditional on the release of American hostages.
Bloomberg’s Eli Lake wrote that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry did not consult Secretary of Defense Ash Carter or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford.
US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked Secretary Carter about the cash payment to Iran.
Secretary Carter answered, “We weren’t involved in this. I don’t know all the details of it, and the chairman and I were not involved in that. It is a decision that was taken by the law enforcement and diplomatic and I would refer you there.”
General Dunford said, “I am not trying to be evasive, but I don’t know the details of that arrangement, and it really was a political decision that was made to provide that money and I don’t think it’s appropriate that I comment on that.”
Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has told the New York Times that he never saw the letters that President Obama sent Iran’s Supreme Leader.
Reportedly, key members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including chairman Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), were not told about wire payments to Iran.
Last month President Obama had said that cash payments to Iran were necessary because wire payments were not possible. Politico has since exposed this as false as the US had already wired money to the Iranian regime twice, before the large cash payment.
On Friday, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) accused the Obama administration of coddling Iran with unprecedented cash ransom payments in exchange for unjustly detained Americans. Speaker Ryan said, ‘We want America to lead. We want our enemies to fear us, and we want our allies to trust us. So what does it say when the United States repeatedly bends over backward to accommodate the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism?”
Secretary of State John Kerry is a big part of the problem as he continues to “Shill for Iran? By bending over backward, I do not just mean all of these concessions, cash infusions, and side deals. I do not just mean sending the Secretary of State out to shill for Iran like he’s the president of the Tehran chamber of commerce. And I do not just mean paying ransom for hostages.”
On Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier, Baier said, “Ryan’s comments came after aides to Secretary of State John Kerry admitted last week that the Iran nuclear deal may have emboldened the regime to become more aggressive toward the US.”
Secretary Kerry while visiting Bangladesh urged the media to report on terrorism less: “If you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise…perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.” Kerry then explained that reporting on acts of terrorism encourages copycats.
Congresswoman Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. Roby has been a vocal critic of President Obama.
Original reporting by Fox News, Bloomberg View, Downhill.com, and the New York Times contributed to this report.
