Who’s #IranDeal’s $10M Bag Man?

Bundles of $100 BillsWhoa…

The indispensable Andrew C. McCarthy* over at National Review has once again asked the $64,000 question. Or in this case, the $10,000,000 questionWho got that sweeeeeet tip?

You’ve doubtlessly heard about the $400M in palettes of cash “leverage” given to the Iranians to get our hostages back. Well, like they say in every infomercial ever “But wait! There’s more!”  Shortly after that news broke, an enterprising New York Sun reporter, Claudia Rosett (therefore making her indispensable) combed through the shoebox of federal government receipts to find an additional (illegally structured!) $1.3B!

While “the most transparent administration in history” continues to insist that this transaction is completely legit, Claudia could not find the 13 transfers of $99,999,999.99 by searching for “Iran” listings in the judgment fund. Acknowledgment of payments to Iran is nowhere to be found. Instead, she happened upon this $1.3 billion (minus the 13 cents) by locating cases in which the State Department was a party.

“But wait! There’s even MORE!”

And with that, another intriguing wrinkle emerged: a 14th unexplained transfer by Treasury, on State’s behalf, in the amount of $10 million — bringing the total to $1.31 billion.

Whereupon Mr. McCarthy asks the aforementioned $64,000  $10,000,000 question:

Is that extra $10 million a sweetener for someone in this deal?

Good question.

Look – This entire thing is like if George W. Bush paid off the Bin Ladens. It’s UNTHINKABLE a President would do this but here we are. Read it. And be horrified.

Why Is Obama Stonewalling on Details of the $1.7 Billion in Iransom PayoffsBy Andrew C. McCarthy — August 27, 2016


*Mr. McCarthy is the lawyer who put away “The Blind Sheik” for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The man knows bad guys and bag men when he sees them.

Too Arrogant?

Don’t get me wrong – I love 90% of the content of Newt’s debate performances and regard them as distinctly brilliant, and I will vote for him, or Bugs Bunny if he’s the GOP nominee.  We’ve got to remove Obama, but I have grave concerns about his arrogance.

Now, I know it would be civics porn seeing him wipe the frickin’ floor with Bam-Bam in a debate.  That alone would be worth the price of admission – seriously.

But remember how the Lefties droned on & frickin’ on about how Bush couldn’t “admit a mistake?”  There wasn’t as much to that propaganda as the Lefties would like, in my opinion, but it wasn’t completely toothless.  There was some there there with that complaint.  So I ask you, my conservative friends:

Do you think Newt will ever think he’s wrong about anything?

Do you think he’ll take counsel about constitutional matters from anyone?  Never mind just simple policy matters, which I think he’ll be equally intransigent and arrogant about.

Because I think he’s wrong about Al-Awaki.  I know I break from the conservative pack on this, but I have grave slippery-slope concerns about a bunch of guys in a smoke-filled back room deciding we can kill an American citizen with impunity.  Especially when you A/B compare how we got Bin Laden!

Do you mean to tell me we value non-American citizen Bin Laden sufficiently to risk our Seals lives to literally drop in (then punch his ticket), but we can’t do the same thing for one of our own?  And extract him alive?  With what he knows?

What’s the point of having a Constitution if you’re not going to defend it when it’s hard?  Really, really, hard?  

What’s the point of having a Constitution unless you defend it – with, to paraphrase, “your lives, your fortune and your sacred honor?”