{"id":45097,"date":"2016-08-04T06:30:18","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=45097"},"modified":"2016-08-04T06:31:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T10:31:50","slug":"an-angry-white-house-snaps-over-secret-iran-hostage-payment-why-is-that-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=45097","title":{"rendered":"An Angry White House Snaps Over Secret Iran &#8220;Hostage&#8221; Payment: &#8220;Why Is That Relevant&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more-->ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<div class=\"content\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-08-03\/%22Our%20incompetent%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Hillary%20Clinton%20was%20the%20one%20who%20started%20talks%20to%20give%20400%20million,%20in%20cash,%20to%20Iran.%20Scandal%21%22\"><strong>Having been exposed for giving $1.7 billion of US taxpayer money to Iran<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; coincidental (we are told to believe) with the release of 4 Americans and the signing of the US-Iran nuclear accord &#8211; The White House is coming out swinging.<\/p>\n<p>Trump didn&#8217;t waste any time:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote_start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"quote_end\"><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<em><strong>Our incompetent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the one who started talks to give 400 million, in cash, to Iran. Scandal!<\/strong><\/em>&#8221; he tweeted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And then, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2016\/08\/03\/whs_josh_earnest_certainly_possible_that_400_million_cash_payment_to_iran_was_used_for_nefarious_activities.html\">as RealClearPolitics reports,<\/a> White House spokesman Josh <strong>Earnest today accused critics of the Iran nuclear deal of &#8220;lying to the American public&#8221; for questioning whether a $400 million cash payment to Iran could have been used to fund terrorism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Read that again! But Earnest then went on to say that while admitting the cash was handed over, it was also possible it was used for nefarious activities&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote_start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"quote_end\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The U.S. continues to have concerns with some of Iran&#8217;s nefarious activities,&#8221;<\/strong> Earnest said at a Wednesday press briefing, but analyses proved that Iran used the money to strengthen its currency, pay off debts, and improve infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The president was quite forward leaning in advance of the deal being acknowledged that we know that Iran supports terrorism, <strong>we know that Iran supports Hezbollah and the Assad regime, and it certainly is possible that some of the money that Iran has is being used for those purposes too,&#8221;<\/strong> he noted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;But the bulk of the money has been going to shoring up their economic weakness, exactly how we predicted.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>One quick question &#8211; <em><u><strong>how do you know that?<\/strong><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Enjoy&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/MjeIZEdA-F6KYzWLn.html\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2016\/08\/03\/obama_administration_refuses_to_give_details_about_cash_payment_to_iran_why_is_that_relevant.html\">But Earnest wasn&#8217;t done &#8211; after a 20-minute grilling <\/a>&#8211; snapping at CBS reporter Margaret Brennan, asking: &#8220;<strong>Why is that relevant?&#8221; <\/strong>when questioned about the $400 million cash payment (in Euros and Swiss Francs) to Iran, seemingly not giving a shit about the fact that it&#8217;s taxpayer money being puked up for nothing..<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"max-width-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"fitvid940980\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vGcaeYiMwLY\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Clearly adopting the Hillary Clinton &#8220;<em>what difference does it make<\/em>&#8221; defense by exclaiming in shrill tone upon being pressed by media:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote_start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"quote_end\"><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<em><strong>But why is that relevant? Why is that relevant? <\/strong><\/em>Particularly when we all know there is no banking relationship between the U.S. and Iran, so again&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Full Transcript is entertaining in the level of denial:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote_start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"quote_end\"><\/div>\n<p>MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS: It would be easy for you to kill the argument [that there is anything suspicious about the payment] by saying this is exactly how it happened and why &#8212; not just: <u><em><strong>Trust us there is nothing shady about a plane arriving in the middle of the night loaded with cash. Which is, you&#8217;re saying it is innuendo. Right?<\/strong><\/em><\/u> You&#8217;re saying nothing was done that was not above board. So why not?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>JOSH EARNEST, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: I guess the point that I&#8217;m trying to make is, <u><strong>we could not possibly have been more transparent about this arrangement<\/strong><\/u> than to have the president of the U.S. announce it to all of you on live national television on the day it took place.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>BRENNAN: The date the agreement was reached and the intent to pay to $1.7 billion, yes. But the details, you&#8217;re saying this is a new detail on an old story. I guess, clarifying the detail is what would help-<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>EARNEST: <u><strong>But why is that relevant? Why is that relevant? Particularly when we all know there is no banking relationship between the U.S. and Iran, so again&#8230;<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>BRENNAN: But the details. The transfer was from the trust fund, to this bank, to this bank. Or it had to be in Euros and Francs because we don&#8217;t have a banking relationship because it is complicated. That would be a really simple thing that people would be able to follow.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>EARNEST: None of what you have walked through changes the basic facts here. <strong>We acknowledged back on January 17 that there would be all kinds of innuendo hurled by people who oppose engagement with Iran&#8230; I recognize the details that you are trying to illicit might make for a colorful news story, but they don&#8217;t change the facts!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>EARNEST: I understand the political attacks that are being made by people who are trying to justify their opposition to the deal&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>BRENNAN: <u><strong>At a minimum the $1.3 billion is taxpayer money? Don&#8217;t people have a right to have an answer to that question?<\/strong><\/u><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Still we are sure Trump &#8220;intervention&#8221; is what will really matter.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-08-03\/angry-white-house-snaps-over-secret-iran-hostage-payment-why-relevant\">http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-08-03\/angry-white-house-snaps-over-secret-iran-hostage-payment-why-relevant<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}