The Obama administration in its last days continues to cover up details about the $1.7 billion in payments delivered to Iran, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
GOP lawmakers, namely Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, continue to get rebuffed in their quest for answers about the reasons behind the payments, seen by many in Congress as ransom money to get American hostages released, and its connection to the nuclear deal between the two countries, the Free Beacon reported.
As a result, Obama's nuclear pact with Iran is in the crosshairs of Rubio and the GOP come 2017.
"Sen. Rubio looks forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump and his team to scrap this fundamentally flawed deal and hold Iran accountable for its cheating and regional aggression," Rubio's spokesman told the Free Beacon.
Rubio, who has been seeking answers since late September regarding the negotiations between Iran and the White House, just last week received incomplete details from the State Department, the Free Beacon reported.
Among the questions Rubio sought answers to were:
- Who signed off on the deal in the Obama administration?
- Were the payments part of the nuke deal or separate?
- Which Iranian officials signed the agreements?
The State Department continues to maintain the payments were not made in exchange for the hostages.
"Regarding the allegations that this settlement constituted ransom to free American citizens who were released from prison in Iran on Jan. 17, the administration has repeatedly made it clear since January, and President Obama recently reiterated, that this settlement did not constitute ransom and that the United States has not and will not pay ransom," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to Rubio.
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