Former Obama administration Undersecretary of State Richard Stengel praised President Joe Biden’s deal with Iran during a recent television appearance.

Stengel, on MSNBC on Monday, argued that Biden’s deal — which involved a hostage swap plus the release of $6 billion to Iran — was a huge win, even going so far as to say that no amount of money would be “too high a price” to pay for the release of American citizens.

“And this administration, the Biden administration, like the Obama administration, like traditional administrations, places a huge premium on getting Americans who are unfairly and illegally held back home,” Stengel said. “And so what is the price for getting an American back home? There is no price for it. The Biden administration is willing to go to the ends of the earth to get these men home.”

Stengel went on to point out the fact that the money had actually come from South Korea but had been frozen because of sanctions against Iran — arguing that because it was not American money, the criticisms were less valid.

“So this wasn’t American money at all. But I would say there is no price that’s too high to pay for the release of Americans,” Stengel repeated. “Again, it’s something that traditionally American administrations do to get Americans back home. It’s a great occasion.”

Critics of the deal have pointed out several key issues — not the least of which being that if the United States sets a precedent by paying a foreign adversary for the release of hostages, that same adversary or any other would have no reason to assume they could not simply kidnap Americans with impunity and receive similar payouts.

Others have noted that, while the deal stipulates all of the $6 billion is to be used for “humanitarian” purposes such as food and medicines, Iran has still received a windfall that could directly or indirectly fund terror abroad or fund further research and development of a nuclear weapon.

NBC’s Kristen Welker claimed “no one” is arguing for legal abortion up to birth in her new interview with former President Donald Trump, but that claim is demonstrably false.

The new “Meet the Press” moderator sparred with Trump for over an hour on abortion and other issues in an interview released Sunday.

“The radical people on this are really the Democrats that say after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth, you’re allowed to terminate the baby,” Trump told Welker during the interview.

“Mr. President, Democrats aren’t saying that,” Welker responded.

Moments later Trump said, “I said with Hillary Clinton when we had the debate, I made a statement, ‘rip the baby out of the womb’ in the ninth month. You’re allowed to do that, and you shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

“Again, no one is arguing for that. That’s not a part of anyone’s platform, Mr. President,” Welker said.

Besides the untold number of abortion activists who advocate for abortion on demand up to birth, a slew of states currently allow abortion at any point in the pregnancy.

In Sunday’s “Meet The Press” interview Trump also said, “the Democrats are able to kill the baby after birth. Nobody wants that.”

“Democrats don’t want that either,” Welker responded.

No Democrat lists infanticide on their platform, but some have appeared to support it, most infamously former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

Northam, a physician, was asked in 2019 whether he would support abortion occurring when the mother is already in labor.

“In this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam told WTOP. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

The same year, all but three Senate Democrats killed a bill that would have protected babies born alive after a failed abortion, requiring doctors to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child” as they would to “any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”

At least 10,000 late-term abortions are performed every year. Democrats like to claim most late-term abortions happen because of a fetal abnormality or to save the life of the mother, but there is data to the contrary.

“Data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment,” reads 2013 research published by Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, a journal of the Guttmacher Institute.

As far as the American public goes, NBC’s Welker is correct in downplaying the popularity of legal late-term abortion — a recent Associated Press poll showed only half of Americans want abortion to be legal after 15 weeks, which is still just the beginning of the second trimester.

Democratic politicians, however, are another matter.