Krauthammer on Obama administration Iran payment: 'Can they not stop lying about this?'

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Krauthammer on Obama Administration Iran Payment

Krauthammer on Obama Administration Iran Payment

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Wednesday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that the Obama administration’s acknowledgment it paid $1.3 billion in interest to Iran just days after sending them $400 million hard currency raises the question “can they not stop lying about this?”

The Obama administration acknowledged on Wednesday paying $1.3 billion in interest to Iran in January, two days after sending $400 million in cash to Tehran as principal to settle a decades old dispute over undelivered military equipment.

On January 17 the administration sent the $400 million in cash - a combination of foreign currency, including Euros -  but the move has been scrutinized since it was used as leverage for the release of four Americans held prisoner by Iran.

The administration has maintained that the payment was not a ransom for the four Americans as critics allege, and the State Department would not elaborate on the January 19 payment due to diplomatic concerns.

In a press conference on August 4, President Obama said “we do not have a banking relationship with Iran that we couldn't send them a check and we could not wire the money. And it is not at all clear to me why it is that cash, as opposed to a check or a wire transfer, has made this into a new story. “

But Krauthammer says the revelation that the administration was sent funds – not hard currency -  to Iran just two days later raises more questions than it answers: “The president says that we have to send the 400 million in cash because we don't have a banking relationship and we can't write a check. Two days later, they wire the money or they send a check through the banking system, uh, and you say we couldn't do it because of sanctions, well the sanctions were still in place two days later.

“This is one lie after another, and it's an administration attempting to cover its tracks, not because anything illegal happened here, although that's possible, but because it's hugely embarrassing. And it just, I mean Iran has been taking advantage of this knowing that this administration can be walked all over humiliated be forced to abandon all its red lines, for example can launch missiles, we say and do nothing, with impunity.”