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White House Aide Ben Rhodes Pressed By House Republicans To Testify Regarding Nuclear Deal With Iran

By Val Powell
Published on: 03:13 PST, May 13, 2016

Republican members of the House of Representatives are now asking White House adviser Ben Rhodes to testify on Capitol Hill regarding the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

In a hearing entitled “White House narratives on the Iran nuclear deal,” Ben Rhodes was asked to speak on Tuesday in front of the House Oversight Committee.

Ben Rhodes, who is the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications in the White House, has not yet responded to the request.

Unfortunately, he may have no other choice. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the committee, has threatened to file a subpoena to demand his presence in the meeting.

According to the report, the committee invited White House adviser Ben Rhodes after a lengthy New York Times article saying that the Obama administration “misrepresented” the nuclear deal.

In the article written by David Samuels, Ben Rhodes said that the administration used friendly reporters and non-profit organizations to market the foreign policy with Iran.

These reporters were described in the post as ignorant. They were also said to believe whatever they were told just so they could provide some “flash” news updates in a tweet or two.

The White House adviser and Pres. Obama reportedly propagated misleading narratives through different media, who Ben Rhodes said “literally know nothing.”

“The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns,” he said in the article.

The main goal was to ensure that senators would not cast a two-thirds vote against the policy, killing it entirely. In the narrative promoted by the White House, a vote against the policy meant a vote for war.

In addition, Ben Rhodes also told Samuels that they created an “echo chamber.” This is where journalists and other thinkers discussed the details of the Iran nuclear deal using information coming exclusively from the White House.

This only means whatever conclusion they arrive at was already expected by the administration.

Ben Rhodes also mentioned that the terms of the policy were already “hammered out” way back in 2012, as opposed to the misleading narrative that they were drafted in 2014 and 2015.

It seems members of the House of Representatives, especially Republicans who opposed the policy to the very end, have read the New York Times article and are now asking the White House aide to tell everything he knows.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has since accused the Obama administration of misleading the American people.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that the Republicans are only trying to unearth the issue for the sake of reviving the old argument.

Schultz added that instead of opening the issue once more, the Republican members of the Congress should just focus on the things that they should be doing and the issues they should be addressing.

He claimed that Chairman Chaffetz is taking steps to “distract from all the work they should be doing.”

Schultz also defended the foreign policy, stating that it has served its purpose well for the United States and the rest of the world.

“The facts and substance of the Iran deal are not in question – it has done exactly what we said it would, and the world is a safer place for it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ben Rhodes made some clarifications over the weekend saying that the details released to the media are still “the facts of the deal.”

“It wasn’t ‘spin,’ it’s what we believed and continue to believe, and the hallmark of the entire campaign was to push out facts,” the White House adviser added.

[Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images]

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