State Department went ahead with cash to Iran over DoJ objections

On balance, the Most Equal Comrade regime's Justice Department is as rotten as the State Department (or any of those departments that really ought to be dismantled immediately, such as Health & Human Services, Energy, Education and Agriculture).

Still, on this occasion, it proved to be the cooler head in a toxic situation:

Senior Justice Department officials objected to sending a plane loaded with cash to Tehran at the same time that Iran released four imprisoned Americans, but their objections were overruled by the State Department, according to people familiar with the discussions.

After announcing the release of the Americans in January, President Barack Obama also said the U.S. would pay $1.7 billion to Iran to settle a failed arms deal dating back to 1979. What wasn’t disclosed then was that the first payment would be $400 million in cash, flown in at the same time, as The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The timing and manner of the payment raised alarms at the Justice Department, according to those familiar with the discussions. “People knew what it was going to look like, and there was concern the Iranians probably did consider it a ransom payment,’’ said one of the people.

So when Josh Earnest tries to preen and act like those pointing out that this smells a whole lot like ransom are being opportunistic, this needs to be brought up.