Sen. Tom Cotton Sunday slammed former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has been nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, as an "Iran sympathizer" who should not hold the post and said the Senate should not expedite his nomination, let alone confirm him for the post.
"Jack Lew is an Iran sympathizer who has no business being our ambassador," the Arkansas Republican told "Fox News Sunday." "It's bad for the United States. It's bad for Israel to have an Iran sympathizer as our ambassador to that country.
"He helped Iran evade American sanctions, and he lied to Congress about it. He defended the Obama administration's refusal to use our veto the United Nations in the final days of the Obama administration to protect Israel from antisemitic resolutions."
In 2015, Lew, who served under former President Barack Obama, testified before Congress in the wake of a nuclear deal with Iran. The next year, the Obama administration would not back a veto of resolution before the United Nations dealing with settlements, raccording to The Hill.
"I know Democrats are saying that we need to confirm Jack Lew quickly to show our support for Israel," Cotton said. "I would say it's the exact opposite. We need to defeat Jack Lew's nomination to show that we have a new approach to Iran."
Several Democrats have expressed concerns that the United States does not have an ambassador to Israel while escalations continue to climb after the Hamas attack and with a looming ground war in Gaza.
President Joe Biden nominated Lew in September, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to hold his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Lew also came under fire in 2016 over the Obama administration's $400 million cash payment to Iran, which came as the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement over a disagreement with the arms deal with Iran signed before the fall of the shah and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
At the time, The Wall Street Journal reported the payment was made in Swiss francs and other currencies, which were put onto pallets on an unmarked cargo plane and flown to Iran.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.