Former Trump spokesliar turned Fox host Kayleigh McEnany served up a huge heaping helping of revisionist history trying to defend Trump's reckless war with Iran. McEnany basically accused both President Obama and President Biden of propping up the Iranian regime, playing old clips of the useless Jake Tapper and Chris Cuomo from CNN questioning whether the $400 million released to Iran during Obama's term was some "quid pro quo," a lie that was debunked long ago.
Here's more on that from Snopes: Obama Bribed Iran $400 Million to Release U.S. Prisoners?:
In January 2016, the Obama administration successfully negotiated the release of four Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran in exchange for the release of seven Iranians who had been imprisoned in the United States.(A fifth American prisoner was released separately.) At around the same time, the U.S. airlifted the equivalent of USD $400 million in various currencies to Tehran, sparking conspiracy theories about the timing: [...]
However, the $400 million transfer was actually an openly announced one, paid in settlement of a nearly 40-year dispute between Iran and the United States — a settlement that likely saved the United States several billion dollars. [...]
Although the American hostages were finally released a year later, issues such as the frozen Iranian assets (including that $400 million) were not settled at that time. Instead, an international court based in the Hague, the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal was established to deal with such legal claims. The tribunal process dragged on for years and years without a ruling on the $400 million being issued, and finally, when arbitration process was apparently about to wind up (quite possibly not in American's favor), the U.S. agreed to pay Iran back the $400 million principal along with $1.3 billion in interest. If the issue had gone to the tribunal for a decision, as was expected, the U.S. could have been on the hook for the full $10 billion in compensation Iran was seeking.
It is true the U.S. agreed to the settlement at the same time it was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran and for the return of four U.S. citizens who had been detained by Iran. However, the negotiations over these these issues were conducted by completely separate teams in order to avoid any overlap or suggestions of connections between them.
As Vox noted, charges that the U.S. had paid "ransom" to Iran for the release of hostages didn't even make logical sense:
None of that stopped McEnany from spewing this bile during her show this Saturday:
MCENANY: A massive escalation in the war in Iran as President Trump strikes Kharg Island. Now that is the crown jewel of Iran. You're looking at footage released by the commander in chief showing a strike on what the Guardian calls Iran's biggest asset and its biggest liability. CENTCOM reporting this morning that the strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island.
Now, presidents have long viewed Kargh as the Achilles heels of Iran, given that more than 90 percent of Iran's crude is processed through this tiny strip of land, which is half the size of Manhattan.
Now, amid the Iran hostage crisis, advisors to President Jimmy Carter suggested seizing the island you are looking at, but the plan was scrapped. It was assessed as being too risky.
President Trump noted the importance of this island all the way back in 1988. Listen to what he said in 1988. "They've been beating us psychologically, making us look like a bunch of fools," he told the Guardian. "One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I'd do a number on Kharg Island. I'd go in and take it."
Wow. That was 1988. So is the plan for the United States to take Kharg Island? At this moment, we do not know. But we do know that the president of the United States has opted for a far different Iran approach than his predecessors.
Now let's look back at how we got here and to figure it out, we follow the money, starting with President Obama back in 2015.
OBAMA: It is true that if Iran lives up to its commitments, it will gain access to roughly $56 billion of its own money, revenue frozen overseas by other countries. [...] Our best analysts expect the bulk of this revenue to go into spending that improves the economy and benefits the lives of the Iranian people. [...] There's no scenario where sanctions relief turns Iran into the region's dominant power.
MCENANY: One year later, a $400 million cash transfer was flown out to Iran, and on the exact same day, Iran released four American hostages. CNN called it a possible quid pro quo.
TAPPER: Continued outrage and controversy over that $400 million cash transfer to Iran by the Obama administration on the same day four American prisoners were released by Iran. The White House denies that the money was a ransom payment. Footage aired on Iranian television, however, purports to show the money arriving in Tehran, and that is raising renewed questions about whether this was a quid pro quo.
MCENANY: $400 million was just the tip of the iceberg. One month later, The Wall Street Journal reported the Obama White House sent three different payments to Iran, totaling 1.3 billion dollars with a B. A day later, Obama's Deputy Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, ran to CNN to defend his boss's nuclear deal and the cash transfer.
CUOMO: First, 1.3 billion. Can you verify that number? Is that how much has been transferred to date?
BLINKEN: Well, I haven't seen the report, but here's what's going on. We achieved a nuclear deal with Iran to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon. It's made us safer, made countries around the world safer.
CUOMO: Was any of the money that's been sent to Iran a quid pro quo to get those Americans freed?
BLINKEN: No.
CUOMO: You're 100 percent sure?
BLINKEN: Absolutely.
CUOMO: So all of these discussions about the planes and the money, that's just spin?
BLINKEN: Absolutely.
MCENANY: Just spin, he says. Well, fast forward to 2023, the Biden White House cleared the way for the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds, saying it was for humanitarian purposes.
MILLER: Even as we allowed them to have access to this humanitarian funding, which was already their money and was already an account to where they could act, they could spend it, but were just unable to do so for some kind of technical reasons, we have made clear that we will continue to hold them accountable.
MCENANY: But Iran's president had a different take.
HOLT: Can you use that money in any way that you see fit.
RAISI: This money belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran and naturally we will decide, Islamic Republic of Iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it.
MCENANY: And in the years since, Iran continued to build up their nuclear program until President Trump called in the military to obliterate it. Today, where we are seeing absolute strength of the US military on full display. You're looking at it.
Users on the evil bird site fact checked McEnany as well:
This is such BS. Iran won an international case against the United States for non delivery of weapons under Carter. Obama leveraged the payment to get our Hostages released and get Iran to sign the Iran Nuclear Deal which allowed us to monitor their entire program and go anywhere… pic.twitter.com/W6c6ou3tjR
— 💯1%_Better_Every_Day💯 (@jh336405) March 15, 2026
Maga! You are fucking 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Fact check: This MAGA narrative recycles old claims and removes the key context.
1. The $400 million payment (2016)
Yes, the Obama administration transferred $400 million to Iran, but it was not a gift. It was the return of Iranian money…— Conti 2023 (@Mouton2023) March 14, 2026
