[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20351]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           OBSTRUCTION OF A DEA INVESTIGATION INTO HEZBOLLAH

  (Mr. PITTENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTENGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my outrage at a 
detailed report by Politico which included testimony that President 
Obama and his administration obstructed a major DEA investigation into 
Hezbollah when they wanted to secure the Iran deal. These revelations 
are shocking and infuriating but, regrettably, not surprising. This is 
the same administration that sent $1.7 billion in cash ransom to Iran.
  According to the DEA, Hezbollah was operating a global criminal 
enterprise worth over $1 billion, annually. They were selling drugs and 
running arms as a means of funding their terrorist activities.
  A major DEA-led task force called Cassandra had procured mounting and 
incriminating evidence against them. Yet, according to senior Treasury 
and Defense officials, the Obama administration consistently obstructed 
and stonewalled the investigation in order to protect the Iran deal.
  In essence, it seems President Obama and his administration were so 
focused on striking a deal with Iran that they let a major global 
terror group off the hook, even though the terror group was involved in 
global drug trafficking and sent massive amounts of cocaine and other 
drugs to our American communities.
  I have sent this letter to Chairman Gowdy, urging an immediate 
investigation into this matter.

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