Biden officials debunk 'inane' GOP claim that Iran prisoner swap fueled Hamas attack on Israel

Following Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, some Republicans have been looking for ways to blame the Biden Administration — including claiming that a prisoner swap with Iran in September helped fund the attack.

But the Biden Administration, according to CBS News' Caitlin Yilek, is pushing back against that claim.

On October 7, Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, tweeted, "Let's be clear: the deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel. Not a penny has been spent, and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false."

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U.S. Treasury Department official Brian Nelson is debunking Republican claims as well.

Nelson, on October 7, tweeted, "All of the money held in restricted accounts in Doha as part of the arrangement to secure the release of 5 Americans in September remains in Doha. Not a penny has been spent."

Yilek notes, "Five Americans who had been wrongfully detained in Iran were freed as part of a high-stakes deal between Iran and the Biden Administration that included the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian oil assets that were held in a restricted account in South Korea. South Korea owed Iran the money for oil it purchased before the Trump Administration imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019."

Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), a GOP presidential hopeful, claimed that "Joe Biden funded these attacks on Israel" — a claim that journalist Paul Waldman slams as a "lie" in an op-ed published by MSNBC on October 10.

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Waldman, best known for his Washington Post column, explains, "The funds are currently with the Qatari national bank; not a penny has yet been released, and they're going to be distributed for humanitarian purposes under strict supervision. That the Republican response was depressingly predictable makes it no less inane and dishonest."

Waldman adds, "Unfortunately, it plays right into a common misconception among both American leaders and the public: that foreign countries, foreign groups and foreign individuals are motivated only by what they think of us."

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Read CBS News' full report at this link and Paul Waldman's MSNBC op-ed here.