Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today that President Barack Obama is trying to "shut down debate" on the Iran nuclear agreement.
Corker, who is chairman of the committee, expressed disappointment in remarks Obama made Wednesday in which he compared members of Congress who have not yet expressed support for the deal to Iranian hardliners who chant "Death to America."
Corker also said the administration may be refusing to obtain and share documents that outline the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) role in implementing the nuclear agreement because the side deals would not "stand the test of late night comedy."
The IAEA has said those documents may not be released under confidentiality pledges.
During the hearing, Corker said he wanted to "put things into perspective."
He noted that Obama threatened to veto a bill giving Congress a chance to study the proposed deal, saying the administration "did not want the issue debated."
"What the president did yesterday by saying that Senator Cardin, our ranking member who has questions about the Iran deal, Senator Menendez who has questions about the Iran deal by the way, both of which voted against the Iraq war if I remember correctly Senator Johnson who has concerns about the Iran deal, we are being compared to the hardliners in Iran because we have concerns concerns that we are trying to have answered.
He said Obama "is trying to shut down debate by saying that those who have questions legitimate questions, legitimate questions are somehow unpatriotic, are somehow compared to hardliners in Iran."
Corker added, ""I am beginning to believe that one of the reasons they do not want people to know it's not about Iran's confidentiality I don't think it would stand the test of late night comedy if people understood how the Parchin [inspections process] was being done."