Speaking from the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama on Saturday, President Obama said that criticism by Republicans concerning his administration's negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program "needs to stop."
“When I hear some, like Sen. McCain recently suggest that our Secretary of State John Kerry, who served in the United States Senate, a Vietnam veteran, who has provided exemplary service to this nation, is somehow less trustworthy in the interpretation of what’s in a political agreement than the Supreme Leader of Iran, that’s an indication of the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries.
“And we’re seeing this again and again. We saw it with the letter by the forty-seven senators who communicate directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, the person that they say can’t be trusted at all, warning him not to trust the United States government.
“We have Mitch McConnell trying to tell the world, ‘ahhh, don’t, don’t have confidence in the U.S. government’s abilities to fulfill any climate change pledge that we might make.
“And now we have a senator suggesting that our secretary of state is purposely misinterpreting the deal and giving the Supreme Leader of Iran the benefit of the doubt in the interpretations.
“You know that’s not how we’re supposed to run foreign policy, regardless of who’s president or secretary of state. We can have arguments and there are legitimate arguments to be had. I understand why people might be mistrustful of Iran. I understand why people might oppose the deal. Although the reason is not because this is a bad deal per se but they just don’t trust any deal with Iran and may prefer to take a military approach to it.
“But when you start getting to the point where you are actively communicating that the United States government and our secretary of state is somehow spinning presentations in a negotiation with a foreign power, particularly one that you say is your enemy, that’s a problem, it needs to stop!” President Obama said.
"Partisanship has crossed all boundaries." —President Obama on @SenJohnMcCain's comments on the #IranTalks: http://t.co/2ze3P9GmPa
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 12, 2015
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