Trump first made the claim that he had seen such footage of a “top secret” location on Wednesday, during a campaign event in Daytona Beach, Fla. The payment was part of a decades-old dispute over a failed military equipment deal dating to the 1970s, before the Islamic revolution in 1979.
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Obama said the deal was separate from negotiations aimed at releasing USA prisoners held by Iran, and talks on the nuclear agreement with Tehran.
“But none of this is surprising from an Administration that allowed its Secretary of State to threaten the country with a private email server, delete her records, and lie about it to us all”, he said.
Trump’s comments caused confusion and speculation about whether he might have seen such video footage during classified intelligence briefings, which are provided to the two presidential nominees.
The Washington Post asked Trump’s staff to explain what Trump was talking about and emailed a link to a Fox News clip that showed the January footage from Geneva, asking if that was the video the nominee saw.
“As to the timing, I simply don’t – I can’t answer conclusively that these hostage – or these detainees, Americans, were on a plane before that money arrived”, said the spokesperson, Mark C. Toner. The campaign acknowledged Thursday that this was incorrect, yet Trump repeated the claim hours later at a rally. “A tape was made – you saw that?” he told a crowd at his rally in Portland, Maine.
Trump’s approach to national security came under fire Friday as well, with former CIA Director Michael Morell contending the Republican nominee would make “a poor, even unsafe commander in chief”. Iran – I don’t think you’ve heard this anywhere but here – Iran provided all of that footage, the tape of taking that money off that airplane, right?
The reason why cash was sent in a crate to Iran is because of strict US-imposed sanctions that have prevented a banking relationship or cheque or wire transfer, he added, noting that the payment “wasn’t some nefarious deal”.
OBAMA: Maybe because it kind of feels like some spy novel or, you know, some, you know, crime novel because cash was exchanged.
“We could not send them a cheque”.
In an effort to fix some of the damage he had inflicted on his presidential campaign, Donald Trump endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan to end a four-day standoff that exposed the deeps chasms in the Republican Party over his candidacy. “Nobody getting nervous because they are going to be shot, because they are shooting a picture of money pouring off of plane”.
The statement by Trump’s campaign came after US President Barack Obama refuted allegation of paying any ransom amount to the Iranians.
Even so, there should have been a more appropriate way of making the payment than handing cash to a corrupt regime, and one that is a state sponsor of terror.
So after already telling reporters that they will deceive the public if it means preserving secret Iran deal negotiations, the administration is now denying that there was a secret condition to the Iran deal.
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“Arm in arm, we will rescue the country from the Obama-Clinton disaster”, Trump told supporters after formally declaring his support for Ryan in next week’s congressional primary.
