John Bolton: Obama’s ‘Humiliating’ Ransom Payment Was ‘Wrapped Around the Nuclear Deal’ — ‘We Were Doing Iran’s Bidding’

Iran: In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency,
Associated Press

On Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the recent uncovering of President Obama’s secret $400 million ransom payment to Iran was a symptom of an “institutional problem, that I think flows directly from Barack Obama.”

“He is, and has been, determined to do whatever it takes to get this nuclear deal with Iran,” said Bolton. “There’s a huge problem with encouraging other terrorists when you pay ransom. That’s why the stated policy of the U.S. government for decades has been, we will not negotiate with terrorists in hostage situations.”

“But what Obama did here was even worse,” he argued. “These people were simply bargaining chips that Iran used to get more concessions in the nuclear deal. The whole thing was wrapped around the nuclear deal, and we were doing Iran’s bidding.”

He noted the total paid to Iran under the nuclear deal would amount to $1.7 billion dollars, but “we don’t know if the other 1.3 has even been paid.”

“Your tax dollars, my tax dollars, are going to be part of that payment,” said Bolton.

When SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon asked if there was any doubt in Bolton’s mind that the Administration tried to hide the ransom with its cash payment technique, he replied, “Of course they did. That’s exactly what they did. And it’s humiliating and degrading to the United States of America that we are doing Iran’s bidding this way.”

“I think if Congress had known about the details of this ransom payment, there’s a good chance the nuclear deal never would have been approved, six months before,” Bolton said.

He agreed with Bannon’s suggestion that Congress should swiftly open hearings into the ransom payment.

“Look, the only way you can get at this Administration is to keep chipping away through hearings,” Bolton contended. “The media are not going to cooperate. There are no Woodward and Bernsteins out there, at the New York Times or the Washington Post, looking to make their career by finding problems in the Obama Administration.”

“And if you think it’s bad now, wait till Hillary gets elected,” he added. “It’s only through use of Congress’ investigation power that we have any possible chance of learning what really happened here, before the election.”

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

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