Trump Repeats False Claim About Iran Ransom Before Admitting Lie

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has repeated a claim he watched a "top secret" video showing Iranian officials receiving money from the U.S. in exchange for five prisoners, even after one of his staffers admitted no such video exists. This is Trump speaking on the campaign trail on Wednesday in Florida.

Donald Trump: "I’ll never forget the scene this morning. And remember this: Iran—I don’t think you’ve heard this anywhere but here—Iran provided all of that footage, the tape, of taking that money off that airplane. Right? $400 million in cash. How does a president do that?"

Trump repeated the claim on Thursday in Maine. But then, on Friday, Trump tweeted, "The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!" Some Republicans, including Trump, have said the money was a ransom for five prisoners, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, released by Iran. The Obama administration said Wednesday the $400 million in cash paid to Iran in January was a pre-planned transfer that was part of the landmark nuclear deal. The money has been owed to Iran since the 1970s, when the U.S. refused to send weapons Iran had already paid for following the Iranian revolution.