Robert C. O’Brien, a former National Security Advisor to President Trump, blasted the Biden administration for trying to spin to the American people that the recent unfreezing of $6 billion of Iranian cash in exchange for the Islamic regime releasing five American hostages did not aid last weekend’s attack by Hamas on Israel. Speaking to Fox News on Sunday night, O’Brien said, “The American people aren’t stupid, they know what happened.”
O’Brien: “Well, there’s a number of things we should do, Number one is we should refreeze the $6 billion that they were paid. Now, you know, Tony Blinken’s a Yale-trained lawyer and Jon Finer, was defending the deal today, they’re smart guys. But if you paid $6 billion for five hostages you can call it ransom, you can call it unfreezing of assets, you can call it a gift, you can call it whatever you want, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. And the American people aren’t stupid, they know what happened. The Iranians now have $6 billion that they can use for food. And so they can take the money that they’re currently spending for food and spend it for terrorism, like they’ve done here in, in Sderot and in other towns in Israel, slaughtering people. So we ought to refreeze that money immediately and we ought to send a very stern message to the Iranians that if this nonsense isn’t, you know, knocked off right away that the U.S. is gonna be knocking on their door and, with more than a handful of cash.”
Transcribe by TGP.
Complete interview:
Biden administration figures have been on the defensive about the $6 billion to Iran since the attack by Hamas started on Saturday. Numerous officials have posted statements online or commented in interviews that the money is being held in a secure account and has not been spent Iran could not possible have used that money to finance the attack.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller posted to X Twitter on Saturday, “Let’s be clear: the deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel. Not a penny has been spent, and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false.”
Let's be clear: the deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel. Not a penny has been spent, and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false.
— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) October 7, 2023
Blinken, while defending the billions Biden gave to Iran, undercut his own messaging on Sunday in an interview on Meet the Press, “Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism,” and of course blamed President Trump (transcript below)
"What do you say about the argument that money is fungible — so Iran may have known this money is coming and used other funds to help fund this attack?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 8, 2023
Secretary of State Antony Blinken: "Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism" pic.twitter.com/t8kyDqOHk9
Excerpt from Meet the Press transcript:
KRISTEN WELKER: And Mr. Secretary, as you know, Republican candidates have been criticizing the administration for the deal that you just struck with Iran to release five American detainees in exchange for some Iranian detainees as well as releasing $6 billion. Your officials have already said Iran has not yet seen a cent of that money, but how do you respond to Republican critics who say that that deal funded the attack on Israel?
SEC. ANTONY BLINKEN: Well, it’s very unfortunate that some are playing politics at a time when so many lives have been lost and Israel remains under attack. Here are the facts. The facts are that these were not – these were not U.S. taxpayer dollars. These were Iranian resources that it had accumulated from the sale of its oil that were stuck in a bank in South Korea. From day one, under our law, under our sanctions going back many years. It’s always had the right to use those funds for humanitarian purposes: for food, for medicine, for medical equipment. The funds were moved from one bank to another where it could more easily do that but under the close supervision of the U.S. Treasury Department. In other words –
KRISTEN WELKER: Mr. Secretary.
SEC. ANTONY BLINKEN: – Treasury will verify any –
KRISTEN WELKER: Mr. Secretary, I don’t want –
SEC. ANTONY BLINKEN: No, it’s important we get these facts right, because here’s what’s going on. Again, not a single cent has been spent from that account. When any money is spent from that account, it can only be used for medical supplies, for food, for medicine. And those who are saying otherwise are either misinformed or misinforming, and it’s wrong either way.
KRISTEN WELKER: What do you say about the argument that money is fungible, so Iran may have known this money is coming and used other funds to help fund this attack that happened –
SEC. ANTONY BLINKEN: Iran has – Iran has, unfortunately, always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas. And it’s done that when there have been sanctions. It’s done that when there haven’t been sanctions. And it’s always prioritized that. And, again, I come back to the proposition that these funds have always been, under the law, available to Iran to use for humanitarian purposes. The Trump administration set up a very similar mechanism to enable Iran to use these kinds of assets for humanitarian purposes. We’ve done the same thing.
Video of Biden Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer, referenced by O’Brien:
"What do you say about the argument that money is fungible — so Iran may have known this money is coming and used other funds to help fund this attack?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 8, 2023
Secretary of State Antony Blinken: "Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism" pic.twitter.com/t8kyDqOHk9
via thegatewaypundit
