RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/obama-administration-iran-deal-failure-and-reckoning/The Obama administration’s ‘norms’ and ‘values’ included deception and weakness.

The “scandal-free” Obama administration sure liked to lie a lot. This morning, America awoke to yet another revelation that Obama officials misled Congress about their dealings with Iran.

A Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report alleges that the administration secretly sought to give Iran access — albeit briefly — to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so. Specifically, the Obama Treasury Department issued a license that would have allowed U.S. banks to participate in a scheme to convert $5.7 billion in Iranian funds into U.S. dollars and then euros. The American banks declined to participate, “citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran.” The license wasn’t unlawful, but, to quote the Associated Press, it “went above and beyond what the Obama administration was required to do under the terms of the nuclear agreement.”

In other words, the Obama administration tried to do Iran an immense financial favor, one not required by the deal itself, to uphold the mythical “spirit” of the agreement (yes, that’s their off-the-record excuse). Iran had reportedly complained that it “wasn’t reaping the benefits it envisioned,” and the Obama administration attempted to help — even though it had publicly assured Americans that “Iran will be denied access to the world’s most important market and unable to deal in the world’s most important currency.”

‘If we wish to preserve a free society,” Friedrich Hayek observed, “it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a cautionary example.

Mr. Cuomo issued a statement in April warning financial institutions that they faced “reputational risk” if they do business with the National Rifle Association: “I am directing the Department of Financial Services to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA or similar organizations sends the wrong message to their clients.” Soon after, the DFS hit an insurance company and a broker working with the NRA on policies for gun owners with large fines for license violations. The one-two punch of the warning and fines sent a chilling message to corporations with lawful business ties to the NRA.

This wasn’t the first time Mr. Cuomo had used extralegal coercion. In February he tried to change the rules in the middle of a transaction in which Fidelis Care, a nonprofit health insurer operated by the Diocese of Brooklyn, was purchased by a for-profit company, Centene . The governor demanded a massive cut because Fidelis earned much of its revenue from state-funded programs like Medicaid—money that was for services rendered.

Mr. Cuomo threatened both to withhold state approval of the sale and to push a bill through the Legislature confiscating the money whether or not the sale took place. They couldn’t stand up to the threats and will pay Mr. Cuomo a $2 billion ransom.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/390922-gop-senate-report-says-obama-officials-gave-iran-access-to-us

A new Senate GOP-authored report alleges that top officials in the Obama administration secretly authorized Iran to convert assets to the U.S. dollar, even after the officials repeatedly assured Congress that no such financial transactions would take place under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, unveiled the new report on Wednesday, claiming top government officials granted a “license” that would allow the “conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system.”

“Senior U.S. government officials repeatedly testified to Congress that Iranian access to the U.S. financial system was not on the table or part of any deal,” the report reads.

“Despite these claims, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, at the direction of the U.S. State Department, granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system,” it continues.

The transactions didn’t go through, however, because two U.S. banks refused to comply with the administration’s request to convert the money over legal and reputational concerns, the report says.

The report cites multiple instances where top officials such as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pledged before Congress and the public that Iran would not have access to the U.S. financial system, both before and after authorizing the license.