Though the statement President Joe Biden gave Tuesday about Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians was far more pointed regarding the situation and supportive of Israel than the brief, bumbling remarks he gave Saturday, the overall response from the Biden administration to date has to many, to put it mildly, been sorely lacking and quite frankly unacceptable.
To further prove the point, we turn to a State Dept. briefing held earlier where spokesman Matt Miller and Associated Press reporter Matt Lee had a heated exchange on the issue of the $6 billion in Iranian assets Biden unfroze as part of a hostage-freeing deal with Iran that was first reported on in July, but which became official in September.
(READ: Biden Admin Commemorates 9/11 by Announcing Deal to Pay Iran $6 Billion to Release U.S. Hostages)
Since the attacks began, Republicans and other staunch supporters of Israel have been accusing Biden of essentially helping to fund the atrocities being committed by Hamas, pointing to the $6 billion hostage-swapping agreement and how it paved the way for Iran to further fund attacks on U.S. allies in the region. Relatedly, some House and Senate Republicans are now calling on Biden to refreeze those assets in light of the Israel-Hamas war.
Over the weekend, Biden National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson insulted everyone’s intelligence by declaring that, “Not a single cent from these funds has been spent, and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people,” while adding, “These funds have absolutely nothing to do with the horrific attacks today and this is not the time to spread disinformation.”
What she conveniently left out though was that the funds are fungible, which means holding them in the bank solely for “humanitarian aid” frees up Iran to use existing funds they have on hand for terrorism.
This was something Lee pointed out to Miller during the Tuesday briefing. In turn, Miller incredibly tried to pin the funding on the Trump administration, stating that “this money was first allowed to accrue into these accounts under the Trump administration.”
Miller’s next “point” was to note that “Iran has always funded terrorism… and malign activities in the region” before and after the accounts were established, which Miller said without evidence is why the Biden administration has “always taken action to hold them to account.”
Lee continued to press the point about the money being fungible and demanded proof from Miller that no money had been used by Iran to fund Hamas since the funds were unfrozen.
But Miller didn’t have it. Instead, he pivoted back to saying, “It cannot be used for anything but humanitarian purposes,” and still refused to acknowledge the point made by Lee about how it frees up Iran to use money they currently have to help fund terrorist groups like Hamas.
Watch:
WATCH: Matt Lee tries to explain in elementary terms to State Department Spokesman Matt Miller that money Biden unfroze for Iran is fungible. Miller tries to shift blame to Trump. Fireworks ensue: pic.twitter.com/D7MjGZSEZS
— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) October 10, 2023
Miller’s argument as pathetic as it was reminded me of what we hear from pro-abortion Democrats anytime the issue of funding Planned Parenthood comes up.
They like to say that the tax money doesn’t get used to fund abortions, but the problem with that statement is the same as the problem with the remarks Miller made about the Iranian assets in the Hamas-friendly Qatar bank. The tax money given to Planned Parenthood frees up their own money to perform the abortions. The Iranian assets that they can only access for humanitarian reasons (assuming they’re even honest about it) frees up Iran to dip into their own coffers to arm and aid terrorists in the Middle East against their enemies.
And that’s exactly what has happened, as was confirmed by reporting from the Wall Street Journal on Sunday:
“Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.”
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 8, 2023
Further, that the Trump administration allegedly allowed the money to accrue is irrelevant to the discussion. As Biden and his team love to point out, Biden is the president now, not Trump. Accordingly, the decisions that come out of this administration are ultimately made/approved by Biden, as the hostage deal in July was.
So there’s no one to blame for the hostage deal and the money involved but Joe Biden himself. Not Donald Trump.
Additionally, it’s maddening (and yet quite revealing) that Miller (and Biden, of course) don’t seem to understand that in talking about how Iran has always been a sponsor of terrorism and always will be they are proving the points of their critics in that it’s the perfect reason not to make any deals with them, especially those that revolve around money and assets that can later be used to torture and murder innocent people.
I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night but even I’m knowledgeable enough to understand that. The question is, why aren’t they?
