James Foley's brother says the State Dept. 'threatened' him to prevent him raising ransom funds privately

American journalist James Foley was beheaded on video by ISIS in Syria after being held captive there for 21 months. Now, Foley's brother Michael says the Obama administration was "actually an impedance" to the Foley family's efforts to rescue James.

"U.S. policy does not allow for government negotiations with terrorist organizations or ransom payments for Americans kidnapped by them," Fox News reports, and Michael Foley said on the Megyn Kelly Show that the State Department "specifically threatened" him about raising ransom money for his brother.

"We were smart enough to look past it but it slowed us down," Michael Foley said. "We lost a lot of time."

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Diane Foley, James' mother, said they were warned over the summer by "a highly decorated military officer serving on the White House's National Security Council staff" that they might face criminal charges if they paid the ransom.

"Three times he intimidated us with that message," Diane Foley said. "We were horrified he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted. We knew we had to save our son, we had to try."