Obama Didn’t Give Iran ‘150 Billion in Cash’

 https://www.factcheck.org/2019/03/obama-didnt-give-iran-150-billion-in-cash/

As a candidate during the 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump criticized the international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons’ program — formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — that had been adopted the year before. He suggested that the U.S. had returned $150 billion to Iran as part of the deal.

That’s not true. We’ve written about this issue before. PolitiFact and the Washington Post have, too.

But Trump has repeated the claim as recently as December, when he tweeted: “The Democrats and President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got nothing, but they can’t give 5 Billion Dollars for National Security and a Wall?”

Trump’s bogus claim now has been repeated in a meme that references the president’s declaration of a national emergency to redirect federal funds for a proposed wall on the southern border.

The meme, which has been shared 149,000 times on Facebook, mentions the recent lawsuit brought against the Trump administration by 16 states to block the national emergency. The meme says: “So, when Obama bypassed the Congress while giving Iran 150 billion in cash, how many States had sued him?”

Biden Had His Worst Week, Then Trump Made Him Look Competent

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-had-his-worst-week-then-trump-made-him-look-competent?ref=home?ref=home

Again, “normal” people don’t like this deranged stuff that plays so well to the Trump base. It also shows how even on someone else’s big day, Trump has to be the center of attention. To paraphrase Alice Roosevelt, Trump has to be the pop diva at every concert and the star of every Super Bowl.

Biden takes a political hit but brings Americans home

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/18/politics/biden-iran-americans-politics/index.html

Criticism from the likes of Trump and Pence is politicized in the context of their presidential campaigns – and ignores their own deals to free Americans. In 2019, Trump engineered a prisoner swap with Iran to free Xiyue Wang, a US citizen accused of spying. Trump also personally welcomed three Americans home from North Korea in 2018 after a deal which looked like a quid pro quo for a later summit with tyrant Kim Jong Un that turned into little more than a giant photo-op. Yet Trump’s deals, like Biden’s, also reunited Americans with their long-suffering families.

Trump Is Telling Us He’s an Enemy of the American People

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-telling-us-hes-an-enemy-of-the-american-people?ref=home?ref=home

In other words, as outrageous as Trump’s comments were this past weekend, what is most shocking about them is that they have not and will result in his immediate rejection by the members of his party. And, therefore, the goal in November must not be just to defeat Trump, but to decisively defeat—and thereby begin to destroy—the entire MAGA GOP movement.

Biden’s balancing act with Iran aims for deterrence, not a wider war

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/03/politics/biden-iran-balancing-act/index.html

President Joe Biden’s decision to strike 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to the death of three American soldiers last weekend amounted to a middle ground: short of a direct strike inside Iran, which would almost certainly spark a wider war, but still more expansive than any action the US has taken so far against the groups it accuses of destabilizing the region.

Elise Stefanik generates VP speculation as she campaigns with Trump

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/21/elise-stefanik-trump-vp-new-hampshire/

Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, symbolizes the shift of GOP officials in the Trump era. Once a Trump critic — a view for which she was celebrated among Republicans who had opposed his 2016 presidential bid — Stefanik has risen within the party over the years and fully embraced Trump. But her drop-in trip to New Hampshire, as well as visits from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), has prompted speculation beyond the state’s primary: Whom would Trump pick as his vice president if he becomes the nominee?

Democrats move to avert embarrassing defeat in New York race for Santos’s seat

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4459359-democrats-move-to-avert-embarrassing-defeat-in-new-york-race-for-santoss-seat/

Long Island, where the district is located, has more commonly been electing Republicans in recent years. Nassau County, which makes up most of the district, has leaned Democratic at the presidential level but is led by a Republican county executive, and a majority of the members of the county legislature are Republican. 

The congressional district comfortably voted for former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial race. 

Pilip’s campaign has centered its attacks on Suozzi around immigration, an apparent effort to tie him to Biden, whose policies on the issue have been rated poorly. Voters in the district say immigration is one of their most important issues. 

‘Enough to make Reagan ill': Trump’s NATO remarks under fire

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/11/trump-nato-remarks-democrats-putin-00140848

“NATO has been a success story for the last 75 years. But what bothers me about this is, don’t take the side of a thug, who kills his opponents. don’t take the side of someone who has gone in and invaded a country and half a million people have died or been wounded because of Putin,” Haley said Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“Now, we do want NATO allies to pull their weight. But there are ways you can do that without sitting there and telling Russia, have your way with these countries. That’s not what we want,” she added.

Israeli teacher helped Hamas aim rockets at sensitive site, arrested

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-786343

A teacher from northern Israel was arrested after providing Hamas with the location of a defense industry plant in the north to help Hamas fire rockets toward the plant, the Shin Bet and police said on Sunday.

The suspect was identified as Rami Habibullah, a resident of Ein Mahil, a town near Nazareth. The Shin Bet and police found that, in light of the conflict in Gaza, Habibullah decided to contact Hamas operatives abroad and offer to help promote terrorist activities in Israel.

Habibullah provided a Hamas operative with a photo of a defense industry plant near his home and the exact location of the plant, intending to have Hamas fire rockets toward the site. He also collected funds for the terrorist group and provided information on several sensitive locations.

Al Jazeera journalist is also a Hamas commander, IDF says

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/al-jazeera-journalist-is-also-a-hamas-commander-idf-says/

A Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera appears to also be a commander in Hamas’s military wing, according to images and documents recovered by the IDF in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war against the terror Palestinian terror group.

“In the morning, he’s a journalist on the Al Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas!” wrote Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, in a Sunday post to social media platform X.

IDF spokesman reveals details of dramatic hostage rescue

https://www.israelnationalnews.com

 IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari on Monday morning gave a statement on the Sunday night rescue of two hostages, Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70), during an IDF operation in Rafah.

In his statement, Hagari said, "This was a complex rescue operation carried out under fire in the heart of Rafah, and based on quality intelligence. The ISA's operational unit, the police, Southern Command, Shayetet 13, and Brigade 7 of the Armored Corps carried out this professional and precise action. This is an operation which we prepared for over the course of some time - the necessary preparations were made and we waited for conditions which would allow it to be carried out."

At 1:49a.m. the special forces broke into the building in Rafah. The hostages were on the second floor. From the moment we began the operation, the soldiers embraced Louis and Fernando and began a difficult gunfight. Aerial support allowed the force to cut contact and hit the Hamas terrorists. The soldiers pulled the hostages out of the apartment, and they were rescued under fire until they reached the safe area. It was a very stressful and very moving night."

Crenshaw on Stefanik’s claim she could decertify election if VP: ‘Totally wrong’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4460305-crenshaw-stefaniks-claim-decertify-election-totally-wrong/

Reacting to her comment in an interview on CNN, Crenshaw denounced Stefanik’s snub of former Vice President Mike Pence, arguing the position does not have the ability to decertify an election. 

“The only reason I’m not worried is because what she’s saying is so completely incorrect,” Crenshaw told CNN’s Dana Bash Friday. “The Constitution gives you no power — you, being the vice president — gives you no power to decertify the election. It’s very clear.”

“I mean, we could pull it up on the screen and read it. Mike Pence read it, and he came to the conclusion that he has no power to decertify election,” he continued. “The word ‘certify’ is not even in there. So, this idea that there even is this mechanism for Congress to certify or decertify an election is just — it’s totally wrong.” 

‘Confidential’ in name only: Merrick Garland’s delicate decision to release the Hur report

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/09/garland-decision-release-hur-report-00140806

Other Justice Department veterans and Biden allies described the report as “gratuitous,” particularly his remark that challenged Biden’s memory of the timing of his son Beau’s death.

“Mr. Hur seems to have gone beyond the limits of what he can write by adding what appear to be simply unnecessary comments about the president’s age and memory, especially the gratuitously bold assertion about forgetting when his son passed,” said Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor.

Jamie Gorelick, a deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton, agreed.

“The language that Hur used, I thought, was remarkable and unfortunate,” Gorelick said. “I think he could have listed his reasons for not recommending a charge or not charging without that kind of gratuitous slam.”

Trump mocks Haley by asking where her deployed husband is: 'Where is he? He's gone'

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-mocks-haley-asking-where-deployed-husband-where-gone

"Where's her husband?" Trump questioned. "Where is he? He's gone. He knew, he knew."

Haley did not mince words when she shot back at Trump two hours later in a social media post.

"Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about," the former South Carolina governor wrote on X.