Despite slashing the military’s budget, former President Barack Obama still managed to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars throughout his administration’s eight years in office.
Supporters of President Donald Trump thought that was all over on Jan. 20.
They were mistaken.
Reports say Obama had one more insult prepared; Obama used the final hours of his presidency to secretly ship $221 million in taxpayer money to a major Islamic terrorist organization in the Middle East.
Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released a mountain of cash to the Palestinian Authority, which is run in part by the internationally recognized Islamic terrorist group Hamas.
According to The Associated Press, State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The aides said written notification was dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the State Department official weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.
The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development, to support political and security reforms in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress.
The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month.
He has also pledged to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday a final decision on that had yet to be made. Despite speculation in Israel that an announcement of the move is imminent, Spicer said the decision-making process is only in its very early stages.
“If it was already a decision, then we wouldn’t be going through a process,” Spicer told reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this article