Iran deal, immigration among issues where GOP hopefuls err | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Eleven leading Republican presidential candidates squared off Wednesday in the second nationally televised GOP debate, challenging each other and sometimes challenging the truth with their answers and statements.

From the Iran nuclear deal to immigration to who’s a real Republican, the White House hopefuls sometimes exaggerated or overstated the facts. Here a look at some of what was said:

Trump’s contributions to Democrats

Republican rivals, particularly former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, jumped on front-runner Donald Trump for giving money to Democratic candidates. Trump’s rivals are correct that he has given generously to the opposition party’s candidates and organizations, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ($25,000 each in 2004 and 2008), Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. ($2,000 in 2003 and $2,400 in 2009), and Hillary Clinton ($1,000 in 2002), according data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Trump has also given to Republicans over the years, including $25,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee in 1998 and $5,000 to conservative Republican John Bolton’s Super PAC in 2014. An analysis of Trump’s contributions by PolitiFact, The Tampa Bay Times fact-checking arm, found that he gave $497,690 to Republicans and $584,850 to Democrats between 1989 and 2011.

From 2012 to the present, Trump has contributed $463,450 to GOP candidates and organizations and $3,500 to Democrats.

Iran nuclear deal

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee asserted that Iran will gain more than $100 billion in cash frozen in foreign accounts when it is relieved of international sanctions under the nuclear deal.

“This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism,” Cruz said.

The Treasury Department puts the figure at about $50 billion, because Iran has obligated more than $20 billion to infrastructure projects with China, while tens of billions more consist of non-performing loans to the Iranian energy and banking sectors.

Cruz also asserted that President Barack Obama has broken the law by failing to submit to Congress two “side agreements” that the International Atomic Energy Agency signed with Tehran on resolving allegations that Iran researched a missile-borne nuclear warhead until late 2003.

He was referring to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. It required the administration to submit to a 60-day congressional review the text and all related materials and annexes to the deal designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The side agreements were concluded between Iran and the IAEA and were not part of the more than two years of negotiations that resulted in the deal that Iran concluded with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

And like the bilateral agreements the IAEA signs with its members, including the United States, the accords it reached with Iran are confidential.

U.S. officials have said they are familiar with the contents of the side agreements and have briefed lawmakers on them, including denying reports that they allow Iran to “self-inspect” a site at a military base where it is suspected of once conducting nuclear weapons research.

Still, Cruz and several Republican opponents of the nuclear deal in the House of Representatives contend that the White House is withholding information on the deal and argue that the 60-day congressional review period hasn’t begun because they haven’t received all materials related to the deal.

Immigration

Trump repeated his contention that America has “a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside,” alluding to the case of an undocumented immigrant charged in the shooting death of a San Francisco woman.

The murder of Kate Steinle has fueled debate over the link between immigration and crime. But data on the connection to crime is lacking. Several studies show little evidence that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born Americans. A study by professors at Florida International University in Miami and the University of Akron, among others, show that immigrants are less crime-prone than natives or have no effect on crime rates.

Casino gambling in Florida

Trump and Bush sparred over a claim by Bush that the real estate mogul and former reality television show host aggressively sought to have gambling in Florida but was stymied by the then-governor.

“I didn’t,” Trump insisted.

“Yes you did,” Bush countered.

“Totally false,” Trump replied.

“You wanted it and you didn’t get it because I was opposed to” it, Bush argued.

“I would have gotten it,” Trump insisted.

According to The Miami Herald’s Naked Politics, Trump hired powerful lobbyist Brian Ballard to represent him in Tallahassee and said the state would be foolish not to allow Miami to go head-to-head with Las Vegas in gaming.

“If Miami doesn’t do casinos, that would be a terrible mistake,” Trump said in an interview. “Taxes would be able to be reduced substantially and Miami is the only place that Las Vegas is really concerned about – in the United States.”

A CNN report said that Bush took a firm stance against gambling in Florida, foiling Trump’s ambition and igniting his feud with the former governor.

Cruz and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.

Cruz said it was mistake for him to have voted to confirm John Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the Supreme Court. The Roberts court has upheld the Affordable Care Act and backed same-sex marriage. But Cruz was one of most enthusiastic boosters of Roberts’ nomination to the high court.

“Judge Roberts is brilliant,” Cruz wrote in a July 20, 2005, National Review article defending Roberts against criticism that he lacked sufficient legal experience.

Cruz noted that Roberts graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University, clerked for two judges, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and argued 39 cases before the high court.

“He has earned a reputation as a balanced, scholarly advocate,” said Cruz, who praised Roberts as a legal expert who “rigorously reviews and applies legal precedents.”

“John Roberts is undoubtedly a principled conservative,” wrote Cruz.

Lesley Clark, Maria Recio and Kevin G. Hall contributed.