(RepublicanNews.org) – Former Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew sat through a Republican-led grilling on Capitol Hill during his October 18th confirmation hearing. If confirmed, the ex-Obama administration official will helm the American Embassy in Jerusalem.
Lew, who is of Jewish ancestry, played a pivotal role in negotiating the Obama-era “Iran deal” of 2015. In what many would consider to be a series of highly contentious back-and-forth exchanges with a number of senators on the right, the ex-Treasury Secretary was forced to defend his record.
Lawmakers appeared divided on his confirmation, with some saying that Israel desperately needed his ambassadorship confirmed immediately because of the ongoing crisis with Hamas, and others seeming to say he had been personally responsible for handing a known terrorist state many billions of dollars.
In spite of his well-known involvement in Iran’s nuclear agreement with the United States, Lew clarified that he both was and is of the opinion that Iran is led by “an evil” and “malign government” and that the Shia regime funds terrorist-related activities before it funds anything else. Legislators on the Foreign Relations Committee pressed the career diplomat as to whether the White House actually has the ability to prevent Iran from using their recently unfrozen $6 billion for nefarious reasons.
About one month before Hamas invaded Israel, the Biden administration finalized a prisoner swap deal with the Persians. Some $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds were a part of the deal and a number of lawmakers warned that the money in question would be diverted to terrorism. The events of October 7th led many to ask if perhaps Hamas had been the recipient of any of that $6 billion.
Sen. Ted Cruz told his colleagues that Lew had played a vital role in flooding more than $100 billion to the Iranian regime. The Texas Republican further pointed out that “the Biden administration has flooded an additional $100 billion to the Iranian” mullahs.
Copyright 2023, RepublicanNews.org
