By the Republican National Committee
UNDER BIDEN, TERRORISTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAVE GROWN INCREASINGLY EMBOLDENED
- Four years ago today, Biden said that he would not have ordered the strike on Iranian terrorist leader Soleimani.
<ul>
<li>Biden also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/12/barack-obama-memoir-joe-biden-bin-laden-raid">opposed the raid</a> on Osama bin Laden in 2011.</li>
<li>Now, with Biden as president, terrorists are taking Biden at his word and increasingly taking advantage of his weakness.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Just last week, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-troops-abroad-risk-due-bidens-policies-lawmaker-warns-3-service-members-killed-jordan">three U.S. soldiers were killed</a> and more than 40 were injured in a drone attack launched by Iran-backed militants.
<ul>
<li>16 days prior to this attack, Biden said he "<a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1751650819152212400">delivered the message to Iran</a>" and "<a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1751650819152212400">they know not to do anything</a>."</li>
<li>Iran clearly isn't listening – Iranian terror proxies have mounted over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/03/1228857108/us-strikes-iran-proxies-houthis-yemen">165 attacks</a> on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since October. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite Biden <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-houthi-missile-attacks-ships-navy-seals-biden-administration-88b9e98a">telling Iran to stop</a> aiding Houthi attacks on shipping, the Iranian-backed pirates continue to severely <a href="https://apnews.com/article/red-sea-houthi-attacks-shipping-inflation-124d5445bec8ce6864112e3095646308">disrupt trade</a> in the Red Sea.
<ul>
<li>Two U.S. Navy SEALs were <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-houthi-missile-attacks-ships-navy-seals-biden-administration-88b9e98a">declared dead</a> after they went missing on a mission to seize Iranian missile parts being sent to the Houthis.</li>
<li>In January, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/politics/biden-administration-houthis-global-terrorist-entity/index.html#:~:text=The%20administration%20removed%20the%20Houthis,administration%20in%20its%20final%20weeks.">had to re-designate</a> the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group after removing them from the terrorist list during Biden's first month in office.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>When Biden took office, Iran had <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/did-maximum-pressure-campaign-against-iran-fail">$4 billion</a> in foreign reserves – now, Iran's foreign reserves are <a href="https://grabien.com/file?id=2127023">above $70 billion</a>, freeing them to fund terror across the Middle East.
<ul>
<li>The Biden administration has failed to <a href="https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1753121373860348051">limit Iran's ability to fund their proxies</a>.</li>
<li>Iran is a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-puts-sanctions-hamas-linked-financial-networks-others-2024-01-22/">major financial backer</a> of Hamas, which massacred <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-gaza/card/israeli-death-toll-rises-to-1-200-rxnP5pV3GiISzb9bkWrn">over 1,200 Israelis</a> in October.</li>
<li>67 Americans, including people taken hostage by Hamas in October and family members of those killed by Hamas, have filed a lawsuit asserting Iran "<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/victims-hamas-attack-israel-families-blame-iran-new-federal-lawsuit-rcna136571">bears direct responsibility for the October 7 attacks.</a>"</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Just days before the October 7th attack, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1745647611313328612">brazenly claimed</a>, "the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades."
<ul>
<li>Fast forward to last week, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1752087829419618422">stated</a>, "We have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we're facing now across [the Middle East] since at least 1973."</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The current tensions with Iran, along with the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and an increasingly emboldened China, have shown that Biden is a complete failure when it comes to foreign policy. </li>
BIDEN HAS PURSUED A POLICY OF APPEASEMENT WITH IRAN
- In September, the Biden administration released $6 billion in ransom to Iran in a lopsided prisoner exchange.
<ul>
<li>The administration knew there was a "<a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-admin-raised-concerns-palestinian-aid-would-boost-hamas-it-went-ahead-with-aid-anyway/">high risk</a>" doing so could boost Hamas, but did it anyway.</li>
<li>Despite the Biden administration's claim that the funds would be restricted to humanitarian use, money is fungible, with the Iranian president declaring "<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iranian-president-says-tehran-will-spend-6-billion-released-prisoner-e-rcna104475">authority</a>" over the funds and saying they would be spent "<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/4200033-iranian-president-raisi-unfrozen-funds-us-wherever-we-need-it/">wherever we need it</a>."</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Since Biden took office, his administration has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-hamas-oil-sanctions-biden-administration-israel-gaza-adbace0b">relaxed oil sanctions enforcement</a> and allowed Iran to profit on <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-has-made-80-billion-in-illicit-oil-sales-since-biden-took-office/">$80 billion</a> in illicit oil sales, a five-year high for the largest state sponsor of terror.</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Biden's handpicked choice for special envoy to Iran, Rob Malley, is under investigation for <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1710737251447996915">mishandling classified documents</a> and lost his security clearance over his alleged involvement in an <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202309282894">Iran-backed spy campaign</a>.
<ul>
<li>In 2010, <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1711792865502691676">Malley</a> called it "a mistake to only think of [Hezbollah and Hamas] in their terrorist violence dimension ... [Hamas] has a charity organization, a social branch ... there's so much misinformation about them."</li>
</ul>
</li>
BIDEN WAS HELLBENT ON REJOINING THE DISASTROUS IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
- Biden has spent his presidency tripping over himself to restore the Obama-era Iran deal, providing the world's largest state sponsor of terror with concession after concession.
<ul>
<li>In an effort to entice Iran to rejoin the nuclear deal, the State Department <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-waive-sanctions-on-iran-civilian-nuclear-activities-as-talks-heat-up-11644022386">announced</a> it was waiving sanctions on Iran's "civilian" nuclear program.</li>
<li>Biden <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-call-on-biden-to-enforce-sanctions-on-iranian-oil-tankers">failed</a> to enforce sanctions that prohibit Iranian oil exports to China.</li>
<li>The administration <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-senators-slam-biden-working-with-russia-iran-deal-during-ukraine-invasion-insane">continued to work</a> with Russia on the nuclear deal during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Iran's "<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/06/06/irans-breakout-timeline-has-reached-zero/?mkt_tok=ODI0LU1IVC0zMDQAAAGE3tVRahiosNWH-Tb8tFGWivixDWC2H6NCxrsgYFfoBZNEAeqjc9mz1JM7zTVYkEbHJNzvZna1O9o6kBV_lJzKpG3TUmdZ9HgQdi4PrSR68J4Prs-G">breakout time</a>"— the time needed to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon — is now at "zero."</li>
<li>As Biden bent over backwards for Iran, our enemies <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/03/06/russian_diplomat_iran_got_much_more_than_expected_in_new_nuclear_deal_about_to_be_finalized.html">openly bragged</a> about how great the Iran nuclear deal was for them.
<ul>
<li>Russia's lead negotiator in the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said "Iran got much more than it could expect" in negotiations.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Through his desperation to rejoin the deal, Biden ignored our closest ally in the region, Israel, who raised <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/former-israeli-officer-iran-nuclear-deal-revival-unprecedented-devastating-consequences">serious concerns</a> over the U.S. reentering the deal.</li>
<li>In 2022, Biden finally said the deal is "<a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/20/biden-iran-nuclear-deal-dead-video">dead</a>," but stressed that the U.S. won't formally announce it.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/09/joe-biden-saudi-arabia-israel-visit/">Biden</a> falsely <a href="https://www.heritage.org/middle-east/commentary/biden-administration-remains-complacent-about-iran-despite-escalating">blamed</a> the Trump administration for the rise in Iran's nuclear power rather than his own policies.
<ul>
<li>According to one U.N. watchdog, Iran has been enriching large amounts of uranium and has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-iaea-cameras.html">withholding footage</a> of its monitoring in nuclear sites since 2021.</li>
</ul>
</li>
DESPITE ONE OF THE WORST FOREIGN POLICY DISASTERS IN U.S. HISTORY, BIDEN SAID HE HAS NO REGRETS ABOUT THE PULLOUT FROM AFGHANISTAN
- Biden has never taken responsibility for his exit from Afghanistan, saying he makes "no apologies" and has even claimed that his deadly withdrawal was a success.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/16/remarks-by-president-biden-on-afghanistan/">Biden</a>: "I do not regret my decision to end America's warfighting in Afghanistan."</li>
<li>Biden has never backtracked on that claim despite the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/sean-hannity-biden-state-union-afghanistan-service-members">death of 13 U.S. servicemembers</a>, Afghanistan's <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/crisis-afghanistan-unprecedented-hunger-after-conflict">worsening humanitarian crisis</a> under the Taliban, and the danger <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/20/afghanistan-taliban-terrorism-jihad-control/">to U.S. national security</a>.</li>
<li>Biden <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/31/biden-blames-trump-for-afghan-pullout-then-takes-credit-for-it/">blamed</a> the previous administration for his disastrous withdrawal despite first bragging in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/14/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-way-forward-in-afghanistan/">April</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/">July</a> 2021 that the manner of the withdrawal was his decision.</li>
<li>In June 2023, Biden denied that mistakes were made during the Afghanistan withdrawal and claimed that he was "<a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1674876116740476931">right</a>."</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>As recently as a few months ago, the Biden administration lauded the botched withdrawal as "<a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1689332963811401728">the correct policy choice</a>."</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Gold Star families are demanding answers and accountability from the Biden administration.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1689765961325256704">Kelly Barnett, whose son, Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, was killed in the withdrawal</a>: Biden "needs to be a grown man. He needs to come out and say, 'Yeah, I made a mistake ... I was looking for a photo op, and I messed up.'"</li>
<li><a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/families-demand-accountability-for-deaths-of-13-service-members/">Christina Shamblin, mother-in-law of fallen Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee</a>: "When our leaders, including our secretary of defense and our Commander-in-Chief call this evacuation a success as if there should be celebration, it is like a knife in the heart for our families and for the people who came back."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/families-demand-accountability-for-deaths-of-13-service-members/">Cheryl Rex, whose son, Marine Lance Cp. Dylan Merola, died in the Kabul airport bombing</a>: "I feel I deserve real answers, real truths, facts and for someone to be accountable for the failures that occurred, that took my son's life."</li>
</ul>
</li>
BIDEN SITS BY AS CHINA GROWS ITS INFLUENCE
- One year ago, Biden let a Chinese spy balloon surveil our entire country before finally shooting it down over the ocean.
- Despite Iran's role in helping plot the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, China continues to indirectly bankroll the largest state sponsor of terrorism, importing oil from Iran at record highs.
- Biden has no interest in getting tough on China, stating that he is for "de-risking, not decoupling with China" and stressing "I don't wanna contain China."
- His administration has echoed Biden's sentiments, with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo saying "we have no interest to hold China down, to hold China back."
- Biden has enabled China to grow its influence, threaten American security, undermine the rules-based international order, and carry out human rights atrocities.
BIDEN PUTS CHINA FIRST, AMERICA LAST
- Biden has a long history of praising China and ignoring the danger it poses to American national security.
- Biden has downplayed the threat of China, saying "China is not our enemy," "a rising China is a positive development" for the U.S., and they're "not bad folks."
- Biden led the effort to grant China "Most Favored Nation" status and supported their membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- Biden has repeatedly bragged about spending more time with Chinese President Xi Jinping than any other world leader – with The Washington Post giving this lie a "bottomless" Pinocchio.
- In June, Biden told a room of Democrat donors "don't worry about China," and in the past has declared he is "not concerned about China."
- As president, Biden has continued his soft-on-China policy approach which has led to an emboldened China.
- On Biden's watch, China has been secretly building military facilities in nearby countries, increasing its use of cyber-attacks, and targeting Taiwan economically.
- China has conducted more than 180 risky intercepts against U.S. surveillance aircraft in the past two years, with Chinese air force and navy fighter pilots swooping within 15 feet of U.S. jets, discharging chaff, and even flipping a middle finger.
- In June, a Chinese warship sailed dangerously close to a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Taiwan Strait – cutting off our U.S. ship at a distance of 150 yards.
- Biden has ignored Chinese hackers breaching the email accounts of senior U.S. government officials.
- The Biden administration is allowing American universities that host chapters of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese Communist Party-backed program used to peddle influence and steal intellectual property, to circumvent a ban on receiving federal funds.
- Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently traveled to China and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- During his visit, Blinken vowed to personally raise the cases of the wrongfully detained Americans, yet the only "commitment" he secured was a "commitment to continue to work hard on resolving these cases."
- Asked about the Chinese spy balloon incident and if it's water under the bridge, Blinken said "that chapter should be closed."
