Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) slammed President Joe Biden this week for unfreezing $6 billion in assets for the Islamic Republic of Iran in exchange for getting five American hostages released from the country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the deal last week, and Congress was notified Monday as lawmakers and officials honored the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“Well, unfortunately, you know, we have sanctions in place to try to discourage the number one state sponsor of terrorism, which is Iran, from developing a nuclear weapon,” Cornyn said in a Fox News interview. “But it doesn’t do much good when the Biden administration decides to write them a $6 billion check. And of course, the money is fungible, it can be used for any purpose, offset other expenses, and the like. And I can’t think of one single thing that they could do that would actually encourage more hostage taking than to pay off the Iranians for these five hostages.”

Cornyn said that he was happy that the hostages will get to go home to their families but the actions of the Biden administration only “guarantees there’s going to be more hostage taking” and it “undermines the sanctions we have in place in order to discourage Iran from developing that nuclear weapon.”

Cornyn then responded to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi contradicting the Biden administration’s claims that the $6 billion can only be used for humanitarian aid.

“This money belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and naturally, we will decide, the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it,” Raisi said. “How to spend our money of course, it is under the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

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Cornyn said that he had “zero confidence in the Biden administration’s ability to monitor the expenditure of these funds.”

“I have absolutely no confidence in the Biden administration’s ability to monitor how these funds are being spent,” he reiterated.

“The question is, are we trying to deter Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with which to wipe Israel off the map and create potentially another world war or not?” Cornyn concluded. “And clearly giving them $6 billion, I don’t care whether it’s their money or somebody else’s money, giving them access to that undermines that deterrence and basically helps them get away with it.”

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Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said in an interview this week that if he is elected as the next President of the United States, he will direct the military to shoot cartel operatives trying to break through the border wall on the southern border.

DeSantis’ comments, which were given during an interview with CBS News host Norah O’Donnell on “CBS Evening News,” come after he said at the first Republican Party presidential primary debate that he would send U.S. special forces into Mexico to kill off the cartels.

“We are going to lean in and we are going to defend our country,” DeSantis said during the interview as he recalled seeing engineers having to repair sections of the border wall in Arizona where the cartels had cut through sections of the steel beams.

DeSantis said that in situations where cartel operatives are observed trying to destroy sections of the border wall, the military will be authorized to use deadly force to stop it.

DeSantis said that protocols would have to be established to determine rules of engagement for when the military can exercise force.

“If there’s a woman with a baby, they’re not a cartel member, there’s not going to be authorization to just shoot somebody like that,” DeSantis said. “But when somebody’s got a backpack on and they’re in there breaking through the wall, you know, that’s hostile intent, and you have every right to take action under those circumstances.”

DeSantis said that it would likely only take a couple of instances of that happening before the cartels are forced to change tactics.

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The Florida governor said that the specific tactics the military would use inside of Mexico to go after the cartels “can be debated” and would likely require flexibility in how assets are deployed.

“The reality is, they are overrunning our border, they’re sex trafficking, they’re human trafficking and they’re bringing in massive quantities of drugs,” he said. “I mean, our country is being invaded and hurt by what they’re doing. And the question is, do we just throw up our hands? And do we say there’s nothing we can do about it? Or does the leader take action? Because I’ll tell you this, I’m going to have the military at the border, 100%. I mean, if they’re trying to break through the wall, we will have deadly force authorized to be able to stop that.”

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Ron DeSantis is going after drug cartels hard. If only we had a president who wasn’t content with a porous border making cartels wealthy. pic.twitter.com/MlwokRIQ2j

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 13, 2023