“That’s when I realized the president is very powerful. The presidency is a very powerful thing when you can do that. I haven’t done that yet. I haven’t found a reason to do that yet, but that’s big,” the Republican leader expressed.
At the time, Obama justified the massive payout by claiming Iran was owed the money over a legal claim related to a failed arms deal in 1979 after the Islamic revolution ushered in the ayatollah and deposed the Shah, taking dozens of Americans prisoner and holding them for more than 440 days.