Ex-RNC chief tears apart Trump’s latest lie

On Wednesday at the G7 summit, President Donald Trump raised eyebrows while talking to reporters about his peace deal with Iran when he made a strongly-worded claim about his presidential predecessor, asserting, “You know what the Iranians did? They laughed at Obama and they said he's a stupid son of a b——." Even many of Obama’s opponents on the right knew this was untrue, as one top Republican declared on no uncertain terms.

“No. The Iranians did not,” responded former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele over a video of Trump’s comments. “But they clearly said that about you given the $300B [memorandum of understanding] you just ‘negotiated’.”

Steele — who ran in the 2006 Republican primary that ultimately pitted Senator John McCain against Obama — was referring to a highly controversial provision of the peace agreement that would provide Iran with a $300 billion “investment fund” for rebuilding the country. This and other aspects of the deal have drawn broad bipartisan criticism.

Republican lawmakers have also been widely critical of the agreement. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) declared it “doomed to fail” due to the lack of Congressional oversight, and also criticized statements from White House officials that backpedaled from a redline on the nuclear question. According to Tillis, "Now we are talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran? How does that make sense at all?" Senator James Lankford (R-OK), who is typically supportive of Trump, concurred, saying, "If you want a deal to last, it can’t be an executive agreement." Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — a staunch Trump ally and Iran war hawk — said the deal “sounds awful,” admitting that it was no tougher on Iran than Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA is at the core of Trump’s suggestion that the Iranian’s “laughed at Obama.” While Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement, arguing that it wasn’t strict enough, experts say that Trump’s deal is “bound to be similar” to Obama’s, and that it “could end up for the worse.”

When Trump ended the JCPOA, one of his assertions was that Obama’s plan had “sent Boeing 757s over there, loaded with cash,” claiming that it was a bribe to get Iran to accept the deal. In reality, the Obama administration had agreed to allow Iran access to $1.7 billion in its own frozen assets. “That’s not going to happen with Trump,” he declared while on the campaign trail in 2015.

Indeed, it now appears that Trump’s plan will provide Iran with nearly 200 times that amount. While Trump has claimed that reports of the $300 billion fund are “false,” sources have told Reuters that half of the money is already committed.

Conservative publications have been quick to criticize the rumored agreement. The National Review noted "a well-established pattern of an administration that habitually over promises and under delivers.” And according to the Dispatch, "If the deal has in fact been finalized… the administration’s unwillingness to share the details suggests the terms are, as many have feared, tantamount to surrender. Why not transparently share something of which you are proud?"

Fox News drew a similar conclusion, asserting, “Trump is declaring the ‘deal’ a success. But with the still-secret arrangement, it’s hard to argue that the 80-year-old president has handled this well.”