Former Trump admin official Ortega says Biden Admin lacks 'experience' in Iran hostage negotiation

Former Trump State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus is criticizing the Biden administration's handling of the recent Iran hostage deal, say it lacks the experience to successfully negotiate. 

"They don't really have any real world business experience," Ortagus said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "They don't have negotiation experience."

Last week, the administration negotiated the release of five U.S. hostages from Iran in exchange for Iranian nationals serving prison sentences. According to the New York Times, the deal would cost $6 billion.  

"I can tell you right now, this is the largest ransom payment in U.S. history," Ortagus said. "If this deal goes down, as reported, this is about $1.2 billion per hostage."

She said that it is possible to bring wrongfully detained Americans home without giving any money to countries such as Iran. 

"The price for wrongfully detained Americans around the world just went up, because we're now reportedly going to pay the largest ransom payment in history," Ortagus said. "It just goes to show how bad this administration is at negotiating. It is possible to get Americans out of prison in Iran for zero dollars. Do you know how I know that? Because we did it under Mike Pompeo's State Department."

She emphasized the importance of negotiating properly for the sake of U.S. security. 

"Any negotiation is not the fix all," Ortagus stated. "So just because you get an American home, even though we're happy about that, and by the way, it hasn't happened yet, but this is what's being reported. Getting an American home shouldn't be the only end goal. You should have a negotiation that leaves the rest of America safe whenever they are traveling abroad."