John Kerry prevented the United States Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation from arresting Iranian terrorists on American soil while negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the Iran nuclear deal — according to whistleblowers who provided information to Senators Chuck Grassley (R., Texas) and Ron Johnson (R., Wis.).
“Unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures provided to our offices show that while the Obama/Biden administration publicly committed to ‘prevent[ing]” Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by raising the cost of Iran’s defiance of the international community,’ then-Secretary of State John Kerry actively interfered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executing arrest warrants on individuals in the U.S. illegally supporting Iranian efforts, including financial efforts, to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and its ballistic missile program,” Grassley and Johnson wrote in a Tuesday letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The records show that Justice Department and FBI leadership, to include then-Attorney General Lynch and then-FBI Director Comet, failed to take the necessary steps to stop Kerry’s obstructive efforts against law enforcement.”
A 2015 email exchange between two FBI agents included in the letter shows one saying to the other that the agency would have to wait until the Obama administration concluded its negotiations with Iran to arrest Iranian actors operating within the U.S.
“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 the US and Iran negotiations resolve themselves,” one of the agents wrote. “We will continue to argue for aggressive action, however we will probably lose.”
Unclassified email records, according to the letter, “detailed at least eight instances connected to the Iran deal where the ‘FBI/DOJ/USG could have moved forward with these cases but the State Department chose to block them'” and that, “in six of these instances, the FBI lost the opportunity to arrest the main subject.” One of those lost subjects “was noted to be ‘on the Terrorism Watch List’ and another ‘returned to Iran,'” while in another instance, “the State Depart ‘blocked [FBI’s] plan to arrest while the subject was mid-flight and the subject was forced to leave the US immediately upon arrival.'”
Other emails cited in the letter show FBI officials working to overcome the State Department’s interference in the DOJ’s attempts to arrest those working for Iran.
“An unclassified email from April 28, 2016, stated that, ‘State has been blocking FBI actions where State has had a role for approval or concurrence — visas, lure ops primarily. We have prepared a package of several cases blocked by State and have been working it up the FBI/DOJ/State chain over the past 6 months,'” the letter reads. “The email also noted, ‘DOJ was surprised by this a bit because extraditions are ministerial functions and not something State would/should block.'”
Moreover, the letter noted, Kerry’s involvement in FBI investigations became enough of an issue that former attorney general Loretta Lynch met with Kerry to discuss his interference.
“An unclassified email from April 29, 2016, described a meeting between the two as: ‘[t]he Thursday meeting between Secretary Kerry and the AG didn’t go well for us . . . the read-out is that now is not a “good time” to be requesting approvals for extraditions or lures on Iran CP cases,'” Grassley and Johnson wrote. “Another email from May 3, 2016, describes the tension between the AG and Secretary Kerry as ‘when the PC [Principals Committee] ended, Kerry packed up his stuff and rushed out without engaging with the AG at all. The issues remain unresolved.'”
Kerry’s blocking of arrests continued through the end of the Obama administration, the letter notes, as “at least two targets were arrested only after ‘State lifted their block . . . since the new [Trump] Administration took office.'”