Kredo: Obama Administration Stonewalling Again on Iran Deal

Washington Free Beacon senior writer Adam Kredo said Monday that it was pretty “shocking” that Attorney General Loretta Lynch would refuse to answer questions about how U.S. cash payments to Tehran were approved and delivered as part of the Iran nuclear deal in exchange for American hostages.

One America News anchor Liz Wheeler discussed on her show Tipping Point how Lynch had essentially pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions from lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate.

“Let me just clarify this. This woman is the head of the Justice Department. Her job is law and order in our nation. Why would she refuse? Is she afraid of incriminating herself?” Wheeler asked.

“Well I think that is the implication by the letter here when they write that she essentially pled the fifth and [is] not responding to these questions. I think that implication is really quite clear that they are saying, ‘Look, we represent the American public. Congress has oversight. Congress is the body that the administration has to answer to on this,’” Kredo said.

“And the response that they got so far I think is really the administration just turning their back and stonewalling once again,” Kredo added.

Wheeler then asked Kredo about the Justice Department’s claim that they are barred from publicly disclosing details about the Iran Deal and whether the the information is classified.

“It is unclassified, but it’s being stored at a facility on Capitol Hill where one needs to relinquish their cell phones, all other devices, and have security clearance to view them. It’s being treated like it’s classified. The point of this of course is very clear to keep staffers without clearance and the American public from getting an idea of what’s in these documents,” Kredo said.

The Free Beacon previously reported on how Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) posed a series of questions to Lynch about the cash payments to Iran:

In an Oct. 24 response, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded on Lynch’s behalf, refusing to answer the questions and informing the lawmakers that they are barred from publicly disclosing any details about the cash payment, which was bound up in a ransom deal aimed at freeing several American hostages from Iran.

The response from the attorney general’s office is “unacceptable” and provides evidence that Lynch has chosen to “essentially plead the fifth and refuse to respond to inquiries regarding [her] role in providing cash to the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” Rubio and Pompeo wrote on Friday in a follow-up letter to Lynch, according to a copy obtained by the Free Beacon.

Wheeler asked Kredo about some of the questions that Rubio and Pompeo asked Lynch and whether any of the questions were controversial.

“No, not in the least. They are actually quite straight forward. There’s nothing complex here. There’s no request for a disclosure of classified information. All of this can be given to Congress and shared with the American public … It’s really just a matter of oversight, which Congress routinely does, but when it comes to this Iran nuclear deal, we just don’t see disclosure from the administration,” Kredo said.

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http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kredo-obama-administration-stonewalling-again-on-iran-deal/