Trump Claims to Have Watched Video of Iran Cash Transfer (Which Doesn’t Exist)

Donald Trump spoke to a Florida crowd Wednesday evening about a shocking video he watched of the transfer of $400 million to Iran, despite the fact that such a video does not appear to exist.

Trump said the following when riffing on the recent accusation that the Obama administration used the $400 million as a sort of quid pro quo ransom payment for three American hostages being held by Iran:

Over there where that plane landed, top secret, you don’t have a lot of paparazzi. You know, the paparazzi doesn’t do so well over there, right? And they have a perfect tape done by obviously a government camera, and the tape is of the people taking the money off the plane, right? That means that in order to embarrass us further, Iran sent us the tapes, right? It’s a military tape.

The GOP candidate’s comments baffled reporters and administration officials alike. Some journalists in particular worried that he was talking about something he had received in one of his classified briefings.

But The Washington Post appeared to solve the mystery when they emailed Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks footage of the hostages departing a plane in Geneva which had aired on Fox News. Hicks confirmed that Trump was referring to that footage: “Yep. Merely the b-roll footage included in every broadcast.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[Image via screengrab]
——
>>Follow Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!