The White House on Thursday dodged questions about whether a key adviser will testify in the House about his claims about how the Iran nuclear deal was reached, and instead lashed out at Republicans for opposing the deal.
Spokesman Josh Earnest was asked if Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes will testify at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which wants him to explain comments he made in a New York Times interview. Rhodes angered Republicans by saying he created an “echo chamber” among policy experts to help sell the deal to Congress.
But when asked about whether Rhodes would meet with the committee, Earnest complained about Republicans who estimated that Tehran would gain access to hundreds of billion dollars in frozen assets after the treaty was implemented, a prediction that he said wasn’t accurate.
“With all due respect to the chairman, if he has an interest in false narratives on the Iran deal,” he should question some of GOP committee members, Earnest said, referring to Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
For example, Earnest said that Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., promised that Iran would win back $100-$200 billion before the agreement took effect. Buck “is either wrong or lying, and he can discuss that with the committee,” Earnest said. “He is a member of the committee, so presumably he knows where the hearing room is.”
He also called out Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who also sit on the panel, for overestimating the figure. The administration puts the figure at about $55 billion, although it admits that Iran will get more than that, and says the lower number is what Iran will have on hand after paying down debt.
“We can verify that is not true,” Earnest said about Gosar’s approximation. “So I don’t know if Mr. Gosar was just wildly misinformed or was lying to the American public, but presumably if he feels so strongly about this issue, he can explain himself before the committee.”
Earnest called out Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., while acknowledging that he is unsure if they could testify before a House panel.
Cotton, “who I know has a special relationship with the Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei], I’m sure he has some interesting insight into the deal if he would like to share with the committee,” Earnest dug. That’s a reference to Cotton’s authoring, circulating and sending a letter directly to Khamenei before Congress signed off on the deal.
“I don’t know whether our critics were just wildly misinformed, mistaken or lying, but if Republicans were interested in getting to the bottom of this, they should just swear in some members of their own conference and figure it out,” Earnest charged.
When asked if his reply meant that Rhodes wouldn’t testify, Earnest made it seem unlikely.
“I think there are some people who have some explaining to do; “and it’s not the administration,” Earnest said. “So we’ll look at the letter… I assume that similar letters were received through the inter-office office mail in the House of Representatives.”
The Obama administration has been on the defensive since the Rhodes interview was published. But Earnest defended him Thursday.
“Ben has had a very broad policy portfolio at the White House and I think everyone here at the White House is quite proud to work with Mr. Rhodes,” Earnest said. He also confirmed that Rhodes had not gone rouge in giving the interview and had received approval to speak to the Times.
