Sen Portman On Iran Prisoner Exchange: We Exchanged Prisoners Who Broke The Law For Americans Who Did Nothing Wrong
“The people who we are letting go were arrested because they had broken the law, these Americans they are letting go had done nothing wrong. I don’t think it’s fair to say this is a swap of prisoners. It’s a swap for people who were imprisoned in Iran but they were imprisoned for no reason. Look, they did nothing wrong so I don’t think we should be giving up other folks for them. On the other hand, my gosh, I am so glad they are coming home. Pastor Saeed (Abedini) is someone who I talked about a lot over the past couple of years and I am so happy he is going to be reunited with his family.”
—Senator Portman on why he doesn’t think it was a fair swap giving up Iranian prisoners who broke the law in America in exchange for American prisoners who have did nothing wrong in Iran
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, called into Kilmeade & Friends to talk about the release of American prisoners in Iran in exchange for President Obama pardoning seven Iranians here in the U.S., the Iran nuclear deal, why he is supporting Gov. John Kasich for president, his re-election campaign for senate and what it is like to work with Sen. Ted Cruz.
Listen here:
Working with Ted Cruz
(BRIAN) Trump said Cruz is not a nice guy. Nobody likes working with him in the senate. Can you tell me what it’s like working with Ted Cruz?
(PORTMAN) It’s fine. We’re friends. We work on issues together. As you know Brian, I like to get stuff done so I don’t always agree with him on policy stuff. I certainly don’t agree with the Democrats on a lot of policy stuff but I work with them just like I work with my Republican colleagues, like Ted.
Portman on Trump
(BRIAN) Are you concerned if Donald Trump gets the nomination? Some people are saying the down ticket will pay the price. Are you concerned about that?
(PORTMAN) I think it’s too early to tell. You hear the pundits are all over the place on this. Some say gosh, he will bring new people to the party and that will help. Other say he will push some people out of the party and that won’t help. We are going to run our own race, we don’t care who is at the top of the ticket. We have been fortunate to run ahead of the presidential ticket in my house races and we ran ahead of the top of the ticket in the senate race, the governor was the top of the ticket. That’s what we intend to do. We are focused on what we always have been which is getting stuff done. Job creation is our #1 issue, protecting the homeland and fighting terrorism and helping those who have fallen between the cracks.
