A Review of Obama?s Disastrous Iran Deal That Trump Just Saved Us From
Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | May 9, 2018 | Rush Limbaugh
Posted on 5/9/2018 4:17:25 PM by Kaslin
RUSH: I have spent considerable time detailing and explaining how the Obama administration spied on domestic opponents of the Iran deal and that that was the forerunner of the attempt to spy on Trump transition and campaign people, and how the Obama administration used a new alliance between intelligence community people and media to advance the mythology and lies about the Iran deal.
And when they saw how easy it was to compromise the media in pushing the phony Iran deal narrative of the Obama administration, that essentially became the trial run for what we are going through now with the intelligence community having an alliance with the media to leak a bunch of absolute drivel about Trump for a year and a half and two years to try to shape public opinion. I?m gonna go back and I?m gonna review all of that.
When it comes to the Iran deal, I?m gonna go back and review a whole bunch of things from the past that we touched on when they came out that everybody has forgotten, that detail just how rotten this deal was to begin with. They also detail how the Obama administration virtually lied to the American people about it, and did so with the assistance of the media and the new alliance between the media and the Obama intelligence apparatus.
It?s a fascinating story, and it?s gonna just nuke to smithereens all of these people that are in a conniption fit over this. And if you look at these people, it does raise a question. I don?t care where you go. John Kerry, Hillary Clinton ? who I think needs to be given a breathalyzer test after 9 o?clock every night if she?s gonna start tweeting things. But wherever you go, Obama, John Kerry, Hillary ? everybody in the Obama administration ? is reacting to this Iran deal like they have lost something huge.
It gives the impression that there?s more involved here than just an Obama policy being reversed. It?s almost like there?s something that was personal at stake here that has been taken away from them. And, I mean, it?s more so than usual. They?re more upset? You know, they were mad at the attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, for example, and they had their little things to say about that. But this is engendering a completely different reaction from them.
But I can?t wait to get to the history of this with all of the stories we had about how bad this is and how bad the Obama administration was lying to people about the Iran deal. It is one of these things that I?m thinking about starting with, when I guess I essentially have. The thing to remember? I want to read you a statement Ben Sasse, U.S. Senator Ben Sasse. He?s from Nebraska. He issued a statement following the president?s announcement yesterday getting out of the Iran deal.
?The Iran deal has always been terrible. Today is a reminder that if you live by the presidency, you die by the presidency. We ought to be clear about this: Donald Trump isn?t ripping up a treaty; he?s walking away from Barack Obama?s personal pledge. Two-and-a-half years ago, President Obama made a bad deal with Iran without support from Congress, and today President Trump is pulling out of President Obama?s personal commitment, and he doesn?t need Congress?s support to do? it because Congress had nothing to do with authorizing this.
Obama did this personally. Obama never had the votes in the U.S. Congress to get this ratified as a treaty. So Obama did it by virtue, by way of executive action. And that?s the only reason Trump is able to rip it up the way he has. If this had been sanctioned and authorized as a treaty by the United States Senate, Trump could not have done what he did yesterday. The key to remember is that Obama never had the support even of prominent people in his own party.
Chuck Schumer, Steve Israel, a number of liberal Democrats in the House as well as in the Senate were never supportive of this Iran deal. It would have never passed the treaty vote in the Senate. So that?s why Sasse is saying this is nothing more than a personal promise from Obama. But presidents cannot commit the United States to treaty-like positions simply because they do so with their personal word. It?s another instance where Obama didn?t have the votes of the elected representatives of the people to enact what he wanted to enact, so he did it by virtue of executive action and executive order.
And because he did it that way, Trump ? like so many other Obama things, which were enacted over the heads of the elected representatives of the people. Trump can simply erase them with a subsequent executive action or executive order. I?m telling you, if this had been a treaty and the Senate had ratified it, Trump could not have done what he did yesterday. He would have had to go back to the Senate, had to reverse the process all over. It would have been practically impossible to do because of the number of votes required even to ratify a treaty.
But as such, he didn?t need the support of Congress; he didn?t need the support of the Senate. Ben Sasse says, ?American foreign policy makes lasting progress when it is led by the President, approved by Congress, and presented honestly to the American people.? This was not presented honestly to the American people. The Obama administration lied about the details of this deal, and one of the architects of the deal, Ben Rhodes, ran around and bragged about how easy it was to lie both to the American people and American journalists.
Ben Rhodes from Obama?s national security apparatus made the comment that your average journalist today is 27. They don?t know anything; they believe everything we tell ?em. It was a snap. It was right out of the page of Jonathan Gruber, who was the architect of Obamacare, who after it was signed into law, ran around the country bragging about how easy it was to lie to the American people about it because the American people are essentially ignoramuses. So Obamacare, the Iran deal?
3 Jonathan Gruber Videos: Americans "Too Stupid to Understand" Obamacare
You look at the tricks that they had to play in order to get Obamacare passed into law. Not one Republican vote for that. They had to use budget reconciliation for it to avoid the requirement for 60 votes. They had to play all kinds of games and employ all kinds of schemes to get Obamacare passed, which is one of the reasons it?s been easy ? relatively easy ? to get rid of the individual mandate. Now, Congress did vote it, so Congress has to participate in the repeal and various elements delayed that for six months, nine months of Trump?s term.
The Republicans weren?t sure he was gonna survive, so they didn?t want to support him on anything. When they finally figured out he was gonna survive, they became a little bit more supportive. But really, Ben Rhodes running around bragging? I mean, this was even in the New York Post. John Podhoretz of the New York Post documented this extensively. We?re gonna go back and revisit this. For all of you who think this was some kind of great deal and there?s been a big trick played, this country has been saved.
This was a disastrous deal. One of the? The $150 billion that Obama pledged to Iran upon signing of the deal? Trump has made a big deal out of that $150 billion, and of course there was another amount of money ? in cash ? that was delivered (chuckles) on an unmarked airplane to the Tehran airport, pallets of cash that were from Obama to the government of Iran, ostensibly for the release of American hostages. But one of the things that?s not being commented on in all of this ? and it?s understandable when you hear it.
You know who one of Iran?s most important allies is? Take a guess. (singing Jeopardy! theme) Beep! Right. Russia. Russia is one of Iran?s biggest allies. Do you know what one of Russia?s primary foreign policy objectives has been for years and years and years? (singing Jeopardy! theme) Beep! Right. An outpost in the Middle East. Guess what? They had it with Iran. Who has been supplying Iran, largely?? They?re not the only ones, but who has been one of the majority players in supplying Iran with nuclear technology for weaponized nukes and nuclear power? (singing Jeopardy! theme) Beep!
Right. Russia.
But wait a minute. I thought Russia and Trump colluded to steal the election from Hillary, which means that Trump would owe Russia, which means Trump would not pull out of this deal. But? (singing Jeopardy! theme) Beep! Right! Trump did pull out of the deal, screwing Russia. Guess why? The Russians were building a bunch of nuclear reactors and infrastructure for the Iranians. The Iranians weren?t paying for it. The Iranians didn?t have the money for it until Obama gave them the $150 billion, and John Kerry even admitted that a slice of that $150 billion would probably be used to fund terrorism.
John Kerry, secretary of state, admitted that some of the money we gave Iran would be used to fund terrorism. And they?re trying to tell us that this was a great deal and that pulling out of this deal is gonna put the United States at great risk. We were at great risk in this deal! Do you know, do you remember, this Iran deal that Obama made had a clause requiring us to defend Iran if Iran were attacked ? including if they were attacked by Israel?
Trump has been talking about that since 2015 and this been one of the primary reasons Trump has wanted to pull out of this. Iran took that $150 billion and repaid the Russians for some of the nuclear infrastructure they had been building. Now with the deal over, Iran has no more source of money. And with sanctions being reenacted, reemployed on Iran, it?s gonna be even tougher for the Iranians to continue to do business with the Russians.
So Trump has just ? in addition to everything else ? flipped a gigantic middle-finger bird at the Russians. But wait! The Russians and Trump colluded steal the election from Hillary, which would mean that Trump would be in the debt of the Russians. All of this is in the beginning stages of imploding. The Mueller investigation, all of this stuff, is in the beginning stages of imploding.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, folks, that $150 billion from Obama to Iran, it just didn?t go to Russia. John Kerry admitted that some of it would be diverted to jihad. You know what that means. Terrorism. So some of that Obama $150 billion ? well, American $150 billion ? went to Syria, went to the Taliban. It flowed to Hamas and Hezbollah for the war on Israel. It went to Yemen, where there?s a proxy war going on against Saudi Arabia ? which, by the way, is now part of the new Trump alliance with Israel.
And then a lot of that money went to Russia to repay Russia ? or to pay Russia, period ? for some of the nuclear infrastructure building that the Russians had done for the Iranians. So it?s just an absolute outrage what the whole deal was in the first place. And the degree of outrage from these people in the Obama team who?ve now had it yanked away from them. It?s really, really curious. Look, I can understand being upset.
Here?s Obama, greatest president ever, first African-American president, believes America needs to be cut down in size. America is the problem in the world in many ways. It?s not the solution. America has been unfair to smaller countries. So here comes Obama to kind of level the playing field and promote globalism.
And this one is just yanked right out from under ?em, and these people in the Obama camp that had something to do with this are really taking this hard. They?re taking it so hard, it?s making me curious what they?ve lost here. What did Kerry lose personally in this? This is? He?s reacting to this more than just lost his credibility, reputation, or resume point. Ditto, Hillary. Ditto, Obama himself.
What did they lose personally in this? And I don?t have the answer, but I tell you what: I am deeply, deeply curious.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This Iran deal, folks, was even less than they were lying to us about it being. Let me explain. I have here a printed page from a website called Human Rights Voices, but it actually reprints something that was sent to then-congressional Representative Mike Pompeo. And it was seen by our buddies at National Review. Now, the date of this is November 24th of 2015. Donald Trump just came down the escalator, you know, six months prior.
I mean, the presidential campaign is barely, barely underway. November 24th, 2015, headline: ?State Department: Iran Deal Is Not Legally Binding and Iran Didn?t Sign It.? When I saw this, I remembered this too! Quote: ?President Obama didn?t require Iranian leaders to sign the nuclear deal that his team negotiated with the regime, and the deal is not ?legally binding,? his administration acknowledged in a letter to Representative Mike Pompeo,? Republican from Kansas.
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??The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)'? that?s what the Iran deal is called ??is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document,? wrote Julia Frifield, the State Department assistant secretary for legislative affairs, in the November 19 letter.? The Obama State Department admitted in a letter to then-Congressman Mike Pompeo that the Obama deal ?is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document.? The Iranians were not required to sign this.
Now, ?Frifield wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned and wondered if the administration had given lawmakers the final agreement. Frifield?s response [to Pompeo] emphasizes that Congress did receive the final version of the deal. But by characterizing the JCPOA as a set of ?political commitments? rather than a more formal agreement, it is sure to heighten congressional concerns that Iran might violate the deal?s terms.?
There isn?t a deal.
Iran can?t violate because they never signed it! Therefore, technically they?re incapable of violating. This is just a set of political documents put forth by Obama, never ratified by the Senate, not signed by the Iranians. Again, I want to read to you from Julia Frifield at the State Department. She?s the assistant secretary for legislative affairs ? November 19th, 2015 ? in the Obama State Department, ?The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),? the Iran deal, ?is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document?? It was the final document.
She ?wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned?? So Pompeo?s sitting there in Congress; they get this deal. It?s the Iran deal. They?re supposed to look at it. Obama wants ?em to sign on to it. Some people go, ?Wait a minute. The thing?s not even signed.? State Department: ?Yes, that?s true. It?s not a treaty. It?s not an executive agreement.?
It was nothing more than a set of political commitments. This is community organizing in action is basically what this is. Obama spells out some things that he wants to do with Iran, some things he wants to do for Iran. He calls it a ?deal? to limit Iran?s? If Iran didn?t sign this, how the hell can they be held accountable in the pursuit of nuclear weapons, nuclear electric grid, nuclear anything? How can they be held accountable when they didn?t even sign it? It?s a nothing!
And right there playing along with this is the Drive-By Media, which is going to be the next aspect of my little trip down memory lane in reminding you how we got here. There?s even more information from this story. ?President Hassan Rouhani discouraged his nation?s parliament from voting on the nuclear deal in order to avoid placing legal burdens on the [Iranian] regime. ?If the [deal] is sent to (and passed by) parliament, it will create an obligation for the government.
??It will mean the president, who has not signed it so far, will have to sign it,? Rouhani said in August. ?Why should we place an unnecessary legal restriction on the Iranian people?'? He was gonna sign it. They didn?t. It?s an Iranian deal that is a list of political achievements, objectives by Obama that doesn?t even have an Iranian signature. It?s not even a deal. To even call this a deal? So all Trump has done is withdraw whatever commitments Barack Obama personally made to the nation of Iran.
That?s all that has happened here.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to continue with this Iranian business and get this rapped up because there?s lots of other stuff I want to get to, and people want to weigh in on this themselves on the phones. So we have established that there wasn?t even a deal; the Iranians never did sign this. It was Barack Obama?s personal policy preferences toward Iran. Folks, the meat and potatoes of this is coming up next. ?Cause I guarantee you, I would bet over 80% are shocked to learn that the Iranians never signed it, that it was a treaty, that it isn?t even really a deal.
It?s nothing more than what Obama wanted to do with American foreign policy in Iran for which he never had the votes; the Iranians never signed it. It has never been binding, except to the extent that nobody would oppose it! But it?s never had the force of constitutional law behind it! It?s no different than how Obama got away with so much during his presidency. Nobody had the guts to stop him.
If you?ve got a document, statutes that say, ?This is what you can?t do,? and somebody keeps violating them, if nobody?s gonna stop you, you keep doing it. And nobody was gonna stop Obama because he was the first African-American president; he was the chosen one for the American left, the Democrat Party, and there was not a soul that was gonna stand up to him.
There was not a soul that was gonna stop him. They knew that the full wrath of the Drive-By Media would rain down upon them. So Obama had a free rein. That?s the only way this was allowed to happen is nobody had the guts to stop it. Even the Republicans ? remember the Corker deal? ? tried to make this look legit. The media made it look legit, and that?s the real story of this! How did this even happen?
How does something that is nothing more than one man?s personal policy preferences toward Iran get presented to the American people as a treaty-like, official U.S. policy that has as its No. 1 objective keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon ? when, in fact, it does just the opposite? It permits the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon! It commits the United States to defending Iran if they?re ever attacked, even by the Israelis.
And they got $150 billion in cash from Obama and the State Department ? well, the Treasury ? and this whole thing was presented to the American people as a serious, constitutional treaty that represented an official United States agreement with the government of Iran with several allied nations as signatories (i.e., our European allies). This was nothing but another scam, folks!
And the scam was pulled off by way of an alliance between the Obama intelligence people ? that would be the CIA, the DIA, the NSA, all the people that ran these agencies that were Obama acolytes ? and the media as willing accomplices in furthering the misconception about this. So first, as a reminder, John Podhoretz, May 5th, 2016, headline: ?White House Admits it Played us for Fools to Sell Iran Deal.? It begins this way:
?Congratulations, liberals of the Washington press corps and elite organizations: You?re a bunch of suckers. We all know this because the Obama White House just told us so. In an astounding New York Times piece by David Samuels, senior White House officials gleefully confess they use friendly reporters and nonprofits as public relations tools in the selling of President Obama?s foreign policy ? and can do it almost at will because these tools are ignorant, will believe what they?re told, will essentially take dictation and are happy to be used just to get the information necessary for a tweet or two.?
Now, Podhoretz, he knows it, but he at this point of the time of this writing is not yet aware of how deep this web of deceit sinks between Obama and the media and all of these nonprofits. He gets a heads-up on it from the piece in the New York Times by David Samuels, and in this piece, White House official ? they can?t contain themselves ? confess how they used reporters and nonprofits as PR tools, and they committed how they can do it any time they want because the reporters are a bunch of sycophants.
As you?ll hear, Ben Rhodes ? who is Obama?s foreign policy kid at the time ? was talking about how easy it was to fool the media. They?re just basically a bunch of ignorant 27-year-olds who will do anything to be close to us. ?Their greatest triumph, according to Samuels [in the New York Times], was selling a misleading narrative about the nuclear deal with Iran ? the parameters of which were set a year before the administration claimed and which had nothing to do with the fact that a supposedly more accommodating government had risen to power.?
In other words ? I?m sure you remember this ? one of the things they used to sell us to the deal was the Iranians had a new government made up of a bunch of moderates ? and the new leader, this Rouhani guy? He was a moderate. ?We can do a deal with this guy!? John Kerry?s all over the place saying so, Obama is. But they weren?t moderates. There aren?t any moderates that are alive in the Iranian regime.