As the White House continued to deflect accusations from conservatives that a $400 million payment to Iran was ransom for four American detainees released earlier this year, Donald Trump twice this week claimed he had seen video of a "top secret" transaction in which the huge supposed payout was unloaded from a US airplane in Iran, per the Washington Post. At a rally Wednesday in Daytona Beach, Fla., Trump claimed the "military tape" purportedly showing "money pouring off a plane" had been released by Iran to "embarrass" the US. He again voiced the claim about the video during a Thursday rally in Portland, Maine, adding that Iran hoped to personally embarrass an "incompetent" President Obama with the video, the Los Angeles Times and CNN report.
His remarks caused a temporary hubbub, as some speculated that perhaps he had seen a classified video during security briefings afforded to presidential nominees. But what Trump had actually seen soon came to light: "b-roll footage," his spokeswoman emailed the Post, that had been playing behind news reports. It showed not a money swap but an AP clip of three US prisoners released by Iran and arriving in Geneva on Jan. 17. That led Trump to point out his own error on Twitter on Friday morning (though CNN notes he did so "without actually saying he was wrong"): "The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!" he tweeted. (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)
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