The family of slain journalist James Foley are claiming Obama Administration officials repeatedly threatened them, asserting that they could be prosecuted for supporting terrorism if they paid a ransom to the ISIS militants holding their son.
Both Foley’s mother and brother made the allegations this week, according to ABC News . The threats, which were made to the Foley family over the summer, reportedly came from a highly decorated military official who serves on the White House’s National Security Council. Five current or former officials with knowledge of the Foley case made the same allegation to ABC News in recent weeks.
“Three times he intimidated us with that message,” Diane Foley claimed. “We were horrified he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted. We knew we had to save our son, we had to try.”
US threatened family of beheaded journo #JamesFoley w/terrorism charge if they paid 2 save him http://t.co/4Ts3uJ4iEB pic.twitter.com/jzAE04cWkA
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) September 12, 2014
The NSC released a statement on Thursday, in which spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden addressed the implications of paying ransom to terrorist groups.
“Without getting into the details of our private discussions with families, the law is clear that ransom payments to designated individuals or entities, such as ISIL [ISIS], are prohibited. It is also a matter of longstanding policy that the U.S. does not grant concessions to hostage takers. Doing so would only put more Americans at risk of being taken captive. That is what we convey publicly and what we convey privately.”
Officials also told Foley’s family not to deal with the press, and indicated that the government would not exchange prisoners or take military action to rescue James Foley, according to CNN . Foley’s brother Michael also claimed that he was directly threatened with prosecution.
“Jim was killed in the most horrific way. He was sacrificed because of just a lack of coordination, lack of communication, lack of prioritization,” Diane Foley said, adding, “As a family, we had to find our way through this on our own.”
VIDEO @CNN : Foley’s mom: Our country let Jim down http://t.co/ehv21YQ8KD pic.twitter.com/SQYkWQO8ck
— MSN News (@MSNNews) September 12, 2014
As The Inquisitr has previously reported, James Foley was murdered by ISIS militants, and a video posted online on August 19 shows his summary execution by beheading. In the weeks following his death, it was revealed that the United States had launched a mission to recover Foley and other captives this summer inside Syria, though the hostages had been moved by the time commandos arrived.
Foley’s family said that the threats slowed their fundraising efforts to obtain the ransom, as they feared donors would also face prosecution.
[Image via ABC News ]
