Top House Republican demands Kerry explain $1.7 billion Iran payment

Now it makes sense. Remember when everyone was bitching, including me, about giving Iran $150 billion and we couldn't get 4 American  prisoners released? The Iranian deal was finalized in April of 2015, the WH downplaying the importance of securing the prisoners freedom. Tragically a done deal. Then out of the blue in January 2016, the "hostages" are released right around the same time Kerry paid a $1.7 billion "interest" payment. 

Anyone truly believe this was an interest payment?

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The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee demanded Wednesday that Secretary of State John Kerry explain a $1.7 billion settlement paid to Iran that some Republicans have described as a "ransom" tied to last month's release of five American prisoners.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., complained in a letter to Kerry that his committee was not consulted about the payment. The Obama administration claimed the agreement was made to settle a dispute with Iran over $400 million in frozen funds that dated back to 1979. The remaining $1.3 billion was described by the Obama administration as "interest".

"It is unclear how this $1.7 billion payment is in the national security interests of the United States," Royce wrote.

Royce's letter included 10 questions to Kerry about the settlement. Among them are how the administration calculated the $1.3 billion "interest" on the payment, a timeline of negotiations over the payment since this past summer's nuclear deal, and why the money was not used to "compensate American victims of Iranian terrorism who have been awarded judgments against Iran."

Royce's letter also asks for a list of U.S. officials who participated in negotiations with Iran over the payment, the prisoner release and the nuclear agreement. 

The White House announced the payment on Jan. 17, the same day that Iran released five American prisoners, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former Marine Amir Hekmati, and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini.

At the time, Obama defended the amount paid by the U.S., saying it was "much less than the amount Iran sought." The president added that the one-time payment was preferable to letting more interest accumulate while waiting for a judgement from the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, which is based in The Hague and was created in the deal that ended the Iran hostage crisis in 1981. 

"I have a larger concern that in choosing to resolve this relatively minor bilateral dispute at this time, the Obama Administration is aggressively moving towards reestablishing diplomatic relations with Iran," Royce wrote. "Such action would clearly violate the President’s pledge to 'remain vigilant' in countering the threat Iran poses to the United States and our allies in the region."

State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed to Reuters that Royce's letter had been received. 

"As with all Congressional correspondence, we'll respond as appropriate," Kirby said. Royce's letter gives Kerry until Feb. 17 to respond to his questions.

Top House Republican demands Kerry explain $1.7 billion Iran payment

Rick Santorum to drop out of 2016 presidential race

Gilmore must have won the lottery! 

They'll be another 2 or 3 gone by the time they leave SC. Although I like Kasich he's going to have to do reasonably well in NH or he's a goner. Like Carly too. But she's hanging on by her fingernails. Carson/Christe are also on thin ice. Can't say it's not interesting to watch.

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Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during a stop at Panora Telecom Solutions, Monday, June 8, 2015, in Panora, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Rick Santorum, the deeply conservative former senator who won nearly a dozen contests in the 2012 race for the Republican nomination, is expected to announce Wednesday that he will suspend his latest and long-struggling run for the presidency.

Santorum is scheduled to appear Wednesday evening on Fox News Channel, where an aide said he will make “two major announcements.” According to several national Republicans familiar with his plans, he will discuss his decision to end his 2016 campaign and he will likely make an endorsement of one of his GOP rivals.

Santorum’s pending departure from the race, first reported by CNN, comes after a disappointing finish in Monday's Iowa caucuses, where he faced stiff competition for the support of the religious conservatives who four years ago were his base.

In 2012, the former Pennsylvania senator vaulted from relative obscurity – and a crushing re-election loss in his home state -- to win the Iowa caucuses and 10 other states, only to fade into obscurity again after Mitt Romney clinched the GOP nomination.

Santorum becomes the third Republican to bow out of the crowded 2016 field since Monday's Iowa contest, with Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee also dropping out.

Santorum looked to build on his winning 2012 approach, making nearly 300 stops and visiting each of Iowa's 99 counties over the course of his latest campaign. But in the caucuses earlier this week, the candidate with the most Iowa-focused strategy received fewer votes than any candidate except former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, who did not actively campaign in the state at all.

Santorum was one of a wave of deeply conservative contenders who believed that after losing two straight presidential elections behind more moderate nominees, GOP voters would turn to a candidate unflinching in ideology who can excite the party’s base.

But former Huckabee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and others occupied the political space that Santorum hoped to again call his own, drawing fervent backing from Christian activists, foreign-policy hawks and populist conservatives.

This time around, Santorum’s campaign also lacked many of the advantages that had helped fuel his 2012 insurgency – including most of the consultants who engineered it.

His former campaign manager, Michael Biundo, signed on with Paul's campaign. Santorum's former Iowa aide, Chuck Laudner, who drove Santorum around the state in his “Chuck truck,” organized the state for Donald Trump. Two former spokesmen worked for Huckabee.

Among those still in Santorum’s camp were longtime confidant John Brabender and wealthy donor Foster Friess, whose money helped lift Santorum’s 2012 bid and who worked to raise funds for him again.

Santorum has for decades put his large family -- including severely disabled daughter Bella -- at the heart of his political life. At his campaign launch this spring near Pittsburgh, he appeared on stage alongside his wife Karen and most of their seven children.

He drew notice for speaking passionately about the need for the Republican Party to address the economic concerns of blue-collar workers. He called for an increase in the minimum wage, and criticized his party for focusing more on the needs of small business owners than on the issues affecting the people those businesses employ. “How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all?" he asked at a fall debate.

Like Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, Santorum centered his 2012 strategy on reviving his support with conservatives in that state, where his victory propelled him up from the bottom of national polls after months of handshakes and grass-roots events.

He spent months traveling to each of Iowa’s 99 counties. It wasn’t enough: his support stayed mired in the low single digits in the state in 2015, and kept him off the main debate stage in the run-up to the first votes of the primary season.

Over the course of the campaign, he expressed mounting frustration with Republican officials and journalists over his relegation to the so-called “undercard” debate.

At his final debate in Iowa last month, he referred to Donald Trump as an “entertainer” and complained about the volume of media attention trained on the front-runner -- but refused to attack Trump directly. He and Huckabee had agreed to appear later that evening with the billionaire, who was skipping his own main stage debate appearance, at a rally Trump had organized to benefit veterans.

In his closing remarks at the debate, Santorum made one last plea to Iowans, pointing to the 700 speeches and town halls stops he had made in the state over the course of both his presidential campaigns.

“Here's what I'm asking you to do,” he said. “You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country.”

Rick Santorum to drop out of 2016 presidential race

Another one bites the dust

Thought Gilmore and Santorum would have left before him.

Another one bites the dust

After the Iowa loss, the feud still rages

After the Iowa loss, the feud still rages

Georgia executes 72-year-old inmate for 1979 killing during robbery

37 years to have the death penalty carried out? After all that time he probably forgot why he was in jail.

This undated photo provided by the Georgia Department of Corrections shows Brandon Astor Jones (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP) 

JACKSON, Ga. – Georgia executed a 72-year-old man, its oldest death row inmate, early Wednesday for the killing of a convenience store manager during a robbery decades ago.

Brandon Astor Jones was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday after an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted in the 1979 shooting death of suburban Atlanta store manager Roger Tackett.

Jones declined to make a final statement in front of witnesses but agreed to have a prayer read.

Georgia doesn't announce exactly when lethal injections begin, and the injection isn't visible to observers. But the warden left the execution chamber at 12:30 a.m., and records from past executions show the lethal drug generally begins to flow within a minute or two of the warden's departure.

Jones was initially still with his eyes closed and then swallowed a couple of times and moved his head slightly. He opened his eyes at 12:36 a.m. and turned his head to his left, appearing to look toward a clock hanging on the wall. Then he closed his eyes again and took a few deep breaths before falling still.

The execution had initially been set for 7 p.m. and was delayed while the U.S. Supreme Court considered appeals from Jones' attorneys. They asked the justices to block the execution for either of two reasons: because Jones was challenging Georgia's lethal injection secrecy law or because he said his death sentence was disproportionate to his crime.

Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, the court denied the requests for a stay.

The challenge to Georgia's strict execution secrecy law sharply divided the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The law classifies the identifying information of any person or entity who participates in an execution as a "confidential state secret."

Jones' lawyers argued the state's execution method carries "a substantial risk of significant harm," violating his constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. But because of the secrecy law, they argued, they don't have enough information to make that claim, which violates his constitutional right to due process.

Three-judge panels of the 11th Circuit had already rejected similar arguments, setting a binding precedent. But because of divided opinions expressed by judges on those panels, Jones' lawyers asked the full 11-judge court to consider their arguments. The court on Tuesday voted 6-5 to deny that review, but several judges offered strongly worded dissenting opinions.

"Today Brandon Jones will be executed, possibly in violation of the Constitution. He may also be cruelly and unusually punished in the process. But if he is, we will not know until it's too late -- if ever," wrote Circuit Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, adding that she believes the secrecy law denies Georgia death row inmates of their due process rights and may deprive them of their right to access to the courts.

According to evidence at his trial, Jones and another man, Van Roosevelt Solomon, were arrested at a Cobb County store by a policeman who had driven a stranded motorist there to use a pay phone about 1:45 a.m. on June 17, 1979. The officer knew the store usually closed at midnight and was suspicious when he saw a car out front with the driver's door open and lights still on in the store.

The officer saw Jones inside the store, prosecutors have said. He entered and drew his weapon after hearing four shots. He found Jones and Solomon just inside a storeroom door and took them into custody. Tackett's body was found inside the storeroom.

Tests showed each man had recently fired a gun or handled a recently fired gun, prosecutors said. The cash drawer had been removed and was found wrapped in a plastic bag.

Jones was convicted in October 1979 and sentenced to death. A federal judge in 1989 ordered a new sentencing hearing because jurors had improperly been allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. He was resentenced to death in 1997.

Solomon, who was also convicted and sentenced to death, was executed in Georgia's electric chair in February 1985.

Georgia executes 72-year-old inmate for 1979 killing during robbery