The recent Iran nuclear deal that passed had a lot of critics who were none too pleased when it passed.  After the agreement was announced, bloggers on the internet focused on the people who said "yes" to the deal, and took them on in a more targeted way.  Case in point, this blog entry that said the following:

Democratic Sens. Ed Markey, Al Franken and Jeanne Shaheen "took Bribes From Iran … They Back Insane NUKE Deal."

Our partners at PolitiFact Florida took a look at what the bloggers were saying to see if it was correct.  Politifact reporter Joshua Gillin says that the bloggers' claim gets a PANTS ON FIRE rating on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says the statement is severely misleading.

"This is one of those online stories that really targets one party and, conveniently enough, forgets that the other party is involved," said Gillin.  "In this case, we're not talking abou the Iranian government at all.  We're talking about a lobbying group for Iranian-Americans, and this lobbying group is not necessarily aligned with the Iranian government at all.  In this case, the lobbying group had given campaign contributions to several people, including the Democrats named in the claim, as well as several Republicans."

Gillin moves to the second part of the claim regarding bribes.  "The bloggers seem to be saying that campaign contributions are the same as bribes, which is definitely not the case," said Gillin.  "A bribe is basically a contract that says you'll perform an action for an amount of money.  Campaign contributions, on the other hand, are the way donors get access to candidates and elected officials, but those people are under no obligation to carry out the wishes of the donors."

Gillin notes that the claim ignores basic facts and is confusing, especially because it implies the Iranian government gave people money to vote a certain way, which, according to Gillin, just doesn't happen like that.  PolitiFact rates this claim PANTS ON FIRE on the Truth-O-Meter.

 

SOURCES: Did Democrats take bribes from Iran?