House
Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., right, and Speaker Paul D. Ryan,
R-Wisc., after a meeting of the House Republican Conference
@John T. Bennett
Posted at May 11, 2016 12:11 PM
The White House is picking a fight with Rep. Steve Scalise over
Iran, saying the House majority whip possibly lied about how much
Tehran could realize in relief from economic sanctions in exchange for
agreeing to curb its nuclear ambitions.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday was asked about Secretary of State John Kerry ’s
assertion that businesses should not blame the U.S. financial system
for the failure to strike deals with Iran. Some firms claim sanctions
not addressed by the nuclear deal Tehran reached with Western powers last yearstill block Iran from accessing the American system or using U.S. currency for business deals.
Kerry told reporters in London
before a meeting with Iranian officials and European bankers that
private firms are using still-on-the-books restrictions as “an excuse.”
Corporate executives, “if they don't want to do business or they don't
see a good business deal, they shouldn't say, 'Oh, we can't do it
because of the United States,'" Kerry said.
Iranian
leaders complain that they are not seeing the full financial benefits
promised under the nuclear deal. Asked if the White House knew the U.S.
financial system and remaining restrictions might chill potential deals,
Earnest said no.
“What
is false is people like Steve Scalise said that Iran would get quote,
'hundreds of billions of dollars.' So again, I don't know if Mr. Scalise
is just really poorly informed or lying,” Earnest said. “But, what he
predicted is not true. He said so at the time and now we can actually
evaluate the facts and determine whether or not he was right. “Steve
Scalise was wrong,” he added. “Not for the first time.”
A
reporter later asked Eric Schultz, principal White House deputy press
secretary, if Earnest was accusing Scalise of lying to the American
people. He declined to comment.
But,
notably, after stating clearly that the White House has concluded the
No. 3 House Republican leader was “wrong,” Earnest later during his
briefing brought up the notion that Scalise -- and other GOP members --
were not truthful about how much in a possible sanctions relief windfall
Iranian leaders would get.
“And
again, there was a point where ... we had sort of this debate and this
dispute about how much of sanctions relief they would get,” Earnest
said. "People like Steve Scalise, who said that Iran would get hundreds
of billions of dollars. Again, they're either wrong or lying.”
The
majority whip has fired off a series of statements and tweets making
claims of a big payout coming to Iran via the nuclear accord.
"Under the deal negotiated by this administration, Iran will receive upwards of $150 billion in sanctions relief ,” Scalise said in an Oct. 1 statement.
[Related: Zika Spurs War of Words] In a blast email to reporters Tuesday
evening, Scalise’s office blasted Earnest, saying he is “speaking on
behalf of a president who is in full damage control mode after a top
official bragged that the administration misled the American people in
order to ram through their Iran deal.”
That was a reference to a New York Times Magazine piece in which Ben Rhodes ,
deputy national security adviser, made controversial remarks about how
he oversaw the White House’s messaging campaign over the nuclear deal
with Tehran
“It’s telling that Earnest spent several minutes of yesterday’s briefing dodging the simple question of whether the White House could ‘state categorically that no senior official in this administration has ever lied publicly about any aspect of the Iran nuclear deal,'” Chris Bond, Scalise’s communications director, said in the blast email.
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