House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz goaded the White House on Twitter Thursday afternoon by wondering if Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is “man enough” to testify in his committee about how he manipulated the press and Congress to get the Iran deal passed.
Dear @PressSec , @SenTomCotton will testify if @rhodes44 is man enough to show. Let’s discuss the truth. #IranDeal
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) May 12, 2016
The Utah representative’s taunt came hours after Earnest danced around reporters’ questions about whether Rhodes will accept Chaffetz’s invitation to testify. The White House spokesman ultimately hinted that it was unlikely Rhodes would go before Congress to share details about how he created an “echo chamber” in the press to pass the deal.
Instead, Earnest refocused the daily press briefing to criticize Republicans for their alleged role in creating a bogus narrative about the implications of the nuclear deal. He called out a number of GOP lawmakers, including Cotton, a first-term senator from Arkansas.
“[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 said, referring to a letter Cotton drafted, circulated throughout the upper chamber and mailed to Khamenei before the administration closed on the deal.
Chaffetz’s tweet indicates he’d be happy to call Cotton to testify if Rhodes were to show up as well.
