A Democratic congressman is defending Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes as calls mount for the White House aide to testify over accusations he misled the press over the Iran deal.
“Over the past seven years, I have worked with Ben Rhodes, and have found him strategic, smart and above-all, a consummate professional deeply committed to our national security and to public service,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement released Friday. “During last year’s debate over the Iran nuclear deal, I had countless meetings with Ben to discuss the emerging agreement, outstanding issues, as well as risks and advantages from the deal. In all of those conversations, I found him candid, insightful, honest and accurate in his assessments. And while Ben was clearly a strong advocate of the agreement, he never tried to sugar-coat or spin its provisions.”
In a New York Times profile last week, Rhodes told a reporter that negotiations began with Iran’s hardliners well before the election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Then Rhodes took credit for spinning members of the media into thinking the negotiations began after the election.
Schiff said the nuclear deal has been beneficial and Republicans are merely scape-goating Rhodes.
“That agreement is now in force, and, much to the surprise of its critics, has resulted in Iranian dismantlement of much of its nuclear program, including the export of large quantities of enriched uranium and cement poured into its Arak reactor,” Schiff said. “Rather than acknowledge the success of the agreement in dramatically lengthening Iran’s potential breakout time, Republicans now seek to re-fight the Iran nuclear debate by dragging a public servant through their faux scandal machine in the hope of scoring political points. This country faces a body of national security and other challenges that demand Congressional action, not another partisan sideshow.”
