Republican senator calls Obama ‘drug dealer-in-chief’
Illinois Senator Mark Kirk likens President Obama to a drug dealer by mischaracterizing the $400 payment to Iran.
Kirk’s controversial rhetoric has been an issue as the first-term senator is viewed as perhaps the most vulnerable Republican incumbent nationally this fall. He is being challenged by two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.
The latest eyebrow-raising comment came as he spoke last week to a Downstate newspaper. Kirk echoed GOP criticism that the U.S. cash payment of $400 million to Iran was a ransom for the release of American prisoners held by the country.
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The money was part of a previously announced settlement in a case stemming from money owed since 1979. The U.S. has had a long-standing policy of not paying ransom for hostages, and the Obama administration described the payment as “leverage” for the release of U.S. prisoners.
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