Grassley Report Reveals Obama-Biden State Department’s Refusal to Exact Justice Against Iranian Terrorists
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released investigative findings detailing the full scope of the Obama-Biden State Department’s pervasive obstruction of FBI law enforcement efforts before, during and after the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations. According to legally protected whistleblower disclosures, FBI arrest efforts against high-level Iranian targets were severely hampered until President Trump took office in 2016; Trump’s election “result[ed] in an immediate move back toward normal enforcement of the law against the Iran regime and its supporters.”
“This report offers chilling evidence the Obama-Biden administration jeopardized our national security and demoralized the morale of FBI agents who were working to keep Americans safe,” Grassley said. “Democrats’ historic refusal to get tough on Iran emboldened its regime and allowed Tehran to continue funding global acts of terrorism, like what we saw on October 7, 2023. We should all be breathing a sigh of relief President Trump is back in the White House to restore American strength on the world stage and hold Iran accountable for its evil acts.”
Per a legally protected whistleblower disclosure: “The State Department and Obama-Biden administration officials persistently and systematically derailed criminal and national security investigations, creating a shadow amnesty program that protected scores of additional Iranian criminals. FBI offices abandoned dozens of Iran-related investigations and U.S. Attorneys shut down prosecutions after recognizing the State Department and DOJ obstruction would thwart effective enforcement efforts.”
Read Grassley’s staff report HERE.
Findings:
Unclassified FBI email records show the State Department, under the leadership of then-Secretary of State John Kerry, repeatedly blocked FBI officials from executing arrests on individuals involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Per an FBI official, in at least once instance, “Secretary of State [Kerry] personally told DOJ officials that they were to stand down on an arrest.” Kerry’s actions flew in the face of his sworn testimony to Congress; ahead of the Iran Nuclear Deal’s signing, Kerry promised Congress the deal would not prevent the U.S. from using its authorities to hold Iran accountable “for terrorism, human rights, missiles or any other non-nuclear reason.”
FBI officials elevated their concerns regarding the State Department’s obstruction to the highest rungs of DOJ leadership – including then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch – to no avail. As arrest opportunities passed, one FBI official wrote, “We are all beside ourselves on asking the field to stand down on a layup arrest, however as it stands right now we all have to sit back and wait until all the US and Iran negotiations resolve themselves.”
A State Department official characterized the absurdity of the Obama-Biden administration’s inactive law enforcement posture, writing to an FBI official, “it’s a little like WTF that [the arrest is] being held up (if you’ll excuse the phrasing). However it is what it is.”
Ultimately, FBI officials resigned to take steps documenting the State Department’s stonewalling “should there ever be a special investigation/hearing etc. on why FBI could not action law, and potentially prevent [a] national security incident.”
The Biden-Harris administration last year failed to muster a response to Grassley’s initial findings regarding this obstruction. Today’s report provides the fullest public account of the Obama-Biden State Department’s unlawful actions.
-30-