Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News Wednesday that the White House’s $400 million ransom payment to Iran amounted to money laundering since it had to be doled out in different currencies to avoid violating U.S. law.
“Of course the Justice Department objected. It was illegal, it isn’t only the optics, it isn’t only that they look ridiculous in denying that it was a quid pro quo, obviously it wasn’t a coincidence,” Krauthammer said.
“The reason that it was objected to by Justice, there is a statute that prohibits us from engaging in Iran dealing with dollars. So they had to -- they had to print the money here, ship it over to Switzerland, turn it into Swiss francs and euros and ship it over to Iran. If a private company had done this, this is called money laundering. The CEO would be in jail right now."
Krauthammer also noted that the fact that it was in cash is significant because it will encourage terrorism.
“Why in cash? Because then you can't trace it. It's going to go straight to Hezbollah, straight to Hamas, straight to terrorists in Iraq. It will kill Arabs, Muslims, Jews in Israel, Americans, and foreigners. That's why it's in cash. This is a totally scandalous piece of bribery and ransom. There's no way to get around it."