Judge in ACLJ FOIA Case Orders Deep State To Produce for Court Review Jen Psaki Email Regarding Secret Obama-Biden Admin Meetings with Iran

At the ACLJ, when we say we are going to get to the bottom of something, we don’t quit, no matter how long it takes.

We just received a new court order concerning our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case about the  Obama-Biden Administration’s “Iran lie.” Despite attempts by the Deep State to try and sweep this one under the rug, the court agreed with our arguments and ordered the Biden State Department to hand over a crucial document for in camera review by the judge himself.

As we told you, we filed this FOIA almost FIVE YEARS AGO.

Way back then we explained how the Obama-Biden Administration was involved in censoring an official State Department press briefing video to delete an embarrassing admission that the Administration lied about its Iran deal negotiations.

We received definitive evidence that the Obama-Biden Administration intentionally manipulated the public video record of a press briefing – having deleted an incriminating portion in which it admitted deceiving the American people about the Iran nuclear negotiations.

As we explained in our lawsuit, the Administration originally claimed the deletion was a “glitch”; but after receiving our FOIA request, it admitted the deletion was not a glitch, but was instead “deliberate.”

Through our lawsuit, we have obtained an email sent by Jen Psaki – who is now the Biden White House Press Secretary – with information relevant to our Iran lie FOIA regarding when the Obama-Biden Iran deal negotiations actually began. In typical Deep State fashion, the chain of emails has been so heavily redacted that it is hard to make heads or tails of the conversation, except that the Iran discussion is specifically referenced. And the flurry of email activity began with an inquiry from an Associated Press reporter within days of the deleted press briefing.  Now the Biden State Department is refusing to cooperate or provide us with an unredacted copy, due to supposed security concerns, including new concerns it claimed for the first time well into our lawsuit.

The federal judge in the case, however, has instructed the State Department to deliver the document to the court for review. The court will then determine whether the Biden Administration has correctly withheld it or not.

As we reported previously, at a 2013 Press Briefing where secret meetings between the Obama-Biden Administration and Iran were brought up, then-State Department spokeswoman Psaki essentially admitted she feels it is justifiable to withhold the truth from the American people – otherwise known as lying – at her own discretion:

At the Daily Press Briefing on December 2, 2013, [James] Rosen asked spokesperson Jen Psaki if the talks had really begun as far back as 2011, as Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes recently admitted to the New York Times. Here is what Rosen said, referencing a prior press briefing in February 2013:

QUESTION: — about Iran. And with your indulgence, I will read it in its entirety for the purpose of the record and so you can respond to it.

“Rosen: There have been reports that intermittently, and outside of the formal P5+1 mechanisms, the Obama Administration, or members of it, have conducted direct secret bilateral talks with Iran. Is that true or false?”

“Nuland: We have made clear, as the Vice President did at Munich, that in the context of the larger P5+1 framework, we would be prepared to talk to Iran bilaterally. But with regard to the kind of thing that you’re talking about on a government-to-government level, no.”

That’s the entirety of the exchange.

Rosen followed up with a valiant attempt to get a straight answer. Finally:

QUESTION: Let me try it one last way, Jen —

MS. PSAKI: Okay.

QUESTION: — and I appreciate your indulgence.

MS. PSAKI: Sure.

QUESTION: Is it the policy of the State Department, where the preservation or the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned, to lie in order to achieve that goal?

MS. PSAKI: James, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that. . . .

Based on that answer, it’s rather alarming that Ms. Psaki has authorized herself to determine when she should and should not tell the truth, considering that she now speaks for the White House and President Biden. But maybe it’s not all that surprising.

The Obama Administration – of which then-Vice President Biden was an integral part – engaged in closed-door negotiations with Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, long before the public knew. And then they tried to obscure the facts to cover it up. They lied to the American people about the most critical and controversial diplomatic negotiations in decades.

In the censored video, President Obama’s State Department – and Psaki specifically – essentially admitted as much. The decision to scrub the video was part of an intentional cover-up. The decision to call the alteration a “glitch” was part of that cover-up. And we’ve obtained the “sensitive” State Department internal memo detailing “evidence of purposeful editing” that proves it. Further, the decision to not fully comply with our lawful FOIA request proves what we’ve suspected all along.

The American people have the right to know who was involved in that cover-up. It’s certainly not up to a Press Secretary to spoon out what they believe we deserve to know. Especially when we know Psaki was involved in a discussion about the Iran negotiations and now doesn’t want to cooperate. It’s worth nothing that Psaki is the same White House Press Secretary who wanted to require all journalists to submit their questions in advance of briefings so she could determine which ones she would call on to answer.

The judge in the case has ordered the Biden State Department to turn over the document to the court by March 12, 2021, and set a follow-up court date in April where we will present our arguments.

By law we have a right to know if our leader was conducting clandestine meetings with the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism. That’s why we are not, as they would prefer, letting this one go.

Someone needs to protect the rights of the American people. That’s why the work of the ACLJ is needed now more than ever. We will not give up until we expose the truth behind the Obama-Biden Iran lie.