Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Thursday took to a new level his fight against President Obama's deal with Iran, which would provide the terror-funding regime with hundreds of billions of dollars.
He wants Congress officially to warn bankers that if they release those funds, there could be legal consequences. Criminal consequences.
Cruz dispatched a three-part plan after support for a legislative maneuver to thwart opposition to the Iran nuclear deal was delayed.
Along with a couple of congressional statements, Cruz wants a warning from Congress to bank CEOs.
TRENDING: America's most dangerous demographic
"We can assume, based in his past practice, that President Obama will simply ignore the law and declare that he is lifting sanctions under the agreement," Cruz said.
"On that assumption, we should make clear to the CEOs of banks holding frozen Iranian funds that their misplaced reliance on the president's lawlessness would not necessarily excuse them from the obligation to comply with existing federal sanctions laws," he said.
"And if they release billions in funds to Khamenei, they risk billions in civil (and possibly even criminal) liability once President Obama leaves office. Having spent years advising major corporations in private practice, I can tell you that their general counsels will likely tell them their legal exposure is real, which could well result in the banks deciding not to release the funds to Iran, the president's lawless waivers notwithstanding."
What do YOU think? Why is Obama so wedded to the Iran deal? Sound off in today's WND poll
His plan was included in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner.
Congressional leaders, Cruz said, should "formally determine that, under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, also known as Corker-Cardin, because President Obama has not submitted to Congress the widely reported side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the president has not yet submitted the Iran agreement as required."
What's next? Find out in "Showdown with Nuclear Iran."
He said that determination should be followed up with a "resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that, if the agreement had been introduced as a treaty, it should not be ratified."
That would put every senator on record, he said.
Cruz emphasized that the terms of the Corker-Cardin are clear.
"The president may not waive or otherwise reduce any sanctions on Iran under his agreement with the Iranian regime until he transmits the agreement to Congress and gives Congress an opportunity to review it.," he said. "The president has not yet transmitted the agreement as that term is defined in Corker-Cardin. Therefore, under federal law, he cannot waive any sanctions against Iran."
What was submitted to Congress, Cruz explained, was not the entire agreement, noting the law requires "any additional materials related thereto, including annexes, appendices, codicils, side agreements, implementing materials, documents, and guidance, technical or other understandings, and any related agreements, whether entered into or implemented prior to the agreement or to be entered into or implemented in the future."
"We now know – by sheer fortuity no less – that he did not [submit all of the deal]. It has been publicly reported that Iran and the IAEA have entered into at least two side agreements that bear directly on the inspections regime that is at the heart of the administration's agreement with Iran," he said.
Cruz told the congressional leaders: "We are all agreed that we must do everything possible to stop implementation of President Obama's deal with Iran. As the elected Republican leaders in both Houses of Congress, you have it in your legal authority to stop the release of over $100 billion to Iran. I ask you to use that authority. I urge you both to declare that the president has failed to submit the agreement to Congress as required by Corker-Cardin and to make clear that any sanctions relief granted under the agreement would therefore be illegal and directly contrary to federal law."
WND reported Wednesday on the rally in Washington against the Iran deal.
Cruz and other leaders, including billionaire Donald Trump, also a candidate for the GOP nomination for president, spoke.
"Never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran," Trump said. "We are led by very, very stupid people. Very, very stupid people. We cannot let it continue."
Â