An unredacted version of the unclassified section of the State Department report obtained by The New York Times lays out two timelines that call into question whether an “emergency” on Iran existed. In the first, investigators found that State Department officials first discussed on April 3 the use of an “emergency” declaration to bypass the congressional holds. That was a month before the White House began issuing statements about troubling signals around Iranian activity in the region. And Mr. Pompeo did not issue his “emergency” certification to Congress until May 24. The investigators found that only four of the 22 packages had been delivered by the time of their inquiry last year.

Source: New York Times August 11, 2020 22:18 UTC