Was the $1.7 Billion Ransom to the Mullahs Legal?...by Ted Cruz

[mystery-ak]

 Was the $1.7 Billion Ransom to the Mullahs Legal?
Americans deserve an explanation of why the Obama administration is using their money not to fight terrorism, but to fund it.
By Ted Cruz — September 1, 2016

Earlier this month, Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) and I sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the subject of the Obama administration’s $400 million cash payment to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which occurred on January 16, 2016 — the day the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action officially went into effect, and the day four Americans unjustly detained by the Iranian regime were finally released.

As the State Department has now admitted, this money was “leverage” — in other words, a ransom — to secure the release of those four Americans from the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. It is appalling that this administration paid a ransom to Iran. Our hostages should have been released unconditionally as a sign of good faith before, not after, any negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Agreeing to this ransom sets a terrible precedent that if the Iranian regime wants more American cash, all they have to do is scoop up more of our citizens — as the Iranians have already begun to do.

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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/439583/print

[MajorClay]

The way they paid it was not.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Let's just say this would raise some red flags at the bank if I tried to pay for anything this way. The proper way to do this is to set up a Charitable foundation and launder the money through the foundation. Iran wasn't even smart enough to set up a Save the Persian Kitty Foundation, or something, so we could write them a check.