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“NEW DETAILS ON IRAN DEAL PRISONER SWAP” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3075 on May 3, 2017.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NEW DETAILS ON IRAN DEAL PRISONER SWAP
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for 5 minutes.
Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, we recently learned troubling details surrounding the terms of the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran from early last year. As I have said before, the more details we learn about this deal, the more apparent it is that it was neither prudent nor transparent.
The safety and security of the American people and our allies around the world should remain a top priority for the United States. But we are learning, according to reports, as part of this prisoner swap with Iran in 2016, the Obama administration released seven prisoners and dropped charges and international arrest warrants of 14 fugitives, many of whom had been directly involved in supplying Iran with U.S.-built equipment or sensitive information that could be used for military systems, primarily Iran's nuclear program.
The administration downplayed the security threat that these men posed. In a variety of ways, these individuals deliberately worked to undermine the United States and smuggle American military technology to Tehran.
In one instance, a man was allegedly part of a conspiracy to steal sensitive software information from a defense contractor in Vermont. Another one of the men was in the middle of serving an 8-year prison sentence on charges related to a separate conspiracy to provide satellite technology and hardware to Iran.
Three of the fugitives were allegedly working to lease an aircraft from Boeing for an Iranian airline that authorities say supported Hezbollah, which the United States, of course, has designated as a terrorist organization.
And the list goes on as these are just a few of the cases. All of this poses a serious threat to our national security as sensitive military information and technology could be used to bolster Iran's weapons programs.
As you may recall, this comes after we learned last fall that, as a part of the deal, the United States paid $400 million that was contingent on Iran releasing four American hostages. This broke from longstanding United States policy to not pay ransoms to rogue nations because it encourages bad actors like Iran to take more hostages. Again, this was not made known to Congress or the American public. We only learned about it nearly a year after the deal was finalized.
What makes this most concerning or more disconcerting is the Obama administration's lack of transparency on the backgrounds of these prisoners. These are not merely civilians or businessmen, as the President and his officials referred to them on multiple occasions. The administration left the impression that these individuals were nothing more than violators of sanctions and not as dangerous as they truly were. Each of these men pose very real threats that the administration hid from the American people.
This isn't a partisan talking point, Mr. Speaker. Even President Obama's own Justice Department had accused many of these men of being involved in terrorist activities.
I support diplomatic efforts with Iran, and I am hopeful that we can continue to engage in diplomacy and secure a good deal at some point, but this latest news continues to exemplify why both Republicans and Democrats could not and did not support this deal.
Iran continues to push every boundary, exploit every loophole, and avoid as much oversight as possible, all while it is antagonizing the rest of the world. It continues to reap the benefits of this deal at the expense of our national security and that of our allies, such as Israel.
We continue to learn something new and bad about this deal that wasn't shared with Congress or the public. Our national security is too important to put at risk, and no President's legacy is worth taking that risk. This new information validates many of the concerns that led to the bipartisan opposition to the nuclear deal.
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