State Department Press Director Elizabeth Trudeau told a reporter at Tuesday’s department press briefing that it was a waste of time to keep asking about the Obama administration possibly making a ransom payment to Iran.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee has been repeatedly asking the State Department if the plane carrying American prisoners out of Iran took off before a plane carrying $400 million in cash landed in the country. The Obama administration has denied that the $400 million it airlifted to the Iranian regime was any form of a ransom payment, saying it was part of a settlement of a decades-old dispute and just coincided with the freeing of American hostages. Some observers have said the Iranians could view the payment as ransom if the money landed first before they allowed the hostages to go.
"OK, let me just start with the question that I’ve been asking a couple times. I just want to know, I just want to try and get this cleared up," Lee said. "Am I ever going to get an answer to the question about the planes?"
Lee’s question prompted some laughter from other reporters.
"I’ve given you the answer I can give," Trudeau said.
When Lee asked Trudeau if she was trying to find the answer of whether the hostages’ plane took off before the money landed in Iran, she replied that she had given him all the information the State Department could provide. Lee then asked if he should keep asking this question.
"So it’s basically a waste of time to keep asking about it? Is that what you’re saying?" Lee asked.
"Pretty much, yeah," Trudeau said. "I appreciate the question."
"As we’ve said, we're not going to get into a tick-tock," Trudeau said. "We’ve explained what the delay was for the plane with the Americans leaving, and I’ll leave it at that."