Posted on 06/02/2016 6:12:43 PM PDT by maggief
The State Department on Thursday said it has hit a "dead end" in determining who ordered the deletion of part of a December 2013 press briefing video that addressed the Iran nuclear deal.
"We believe we've carried out the necessary investigation. We have hit a dead end in terms of finding out more information," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
The answer was unacceptable to CNN news anchor Jake Tapper, who declared Thursday, "Just as the public has a right to know the truth, we have a right to know who lied to us. And why.” During the deleted portion, then-State Department Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked by Fox News reporter James Rosen whether it was OK to lie to keep secret negotiations with Iran.
"I think there are times when diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress," she responded.
The State Department first called the deletion "a glitch" before admitting it was an deliberate order made by someone it says is not known at this point.
Toner told reporters that the deletion occurred after a video technician got a call from someone within the public affairs department, acting on behest of someone else within the bureau.
Toner also made contradictory statements over whether the identity of the person who relayed the request was known.
"Yes, it was — so the request was — and we sort of know, obviously, who made that request, but that that was passing on a request from somewhere else within the Public Affairs Bureau," Toner said. "The individual in question here does not remember who told him or her to carry out this order. It was a phone call that took place three years ago. We're not going to question their memory, but at this point, we believe that we've done the forensics."
Toner also said the technician remembers the gender of the person who called, but that he was "not allowed to share that."
"We do know that and I'm not allowed to share that," Toner said.
But later in the briefing, Toner indicated the Department has "not been able to clarify" who placed the call relaying the order to the video technician.
It's unclear whether he meant he could not "clarify" that for reporters, or that he did not know.
And as far as who decided and directed others to make the edit happen, Toner said, "We don't have that individual, or that individual's name."
Toner said the department has looked through a staff roster and taken "commonsense steps" to get to the bottom of the decision. He said he could not confirm whether phone records were examined, but he would check.
He also said there were no plans to interview the roughly 300 employees in the public affairs bureau to determine who made the original request.
"If somebody wants to come forward with that, then we would welcome that, obviously," he said. "If we get new information as to where this request came from, we will investigate further."
While he said the act was "inappropriate," he said an investigation by the State Department's legal adviser's office showed no rules were broken, primarily since there were none in place in regards to editing video.
He said, however, that there is a policy going forward not to alter briefing videos.
You keep believing that,pal.
The rest of us know better.
No 0ne had the chain of custody.
No 0ne lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave N.W.
I’m flashing back to the days of W. Robert Novak wrote a story about one of Kerrys key campaign people who happened to work at a desk at the CIA. Before he wrote the story he called the CIA to confirm her job, what she did, all kinds of stuff. He was given all the information about it over the phone.
The democrats turned it into a three year, non stop, end of the world investigation because it was W’s fault that some chick had her name revealed in the paper. To listen to their stories of frog marching someone to jail on a weekly basis you would think that the world was about to end.
Now, the democrats straight up delete material and lie about a very huge deal and they investigate it for about an hour, just hit a dead end and we should move on.
times sure do change.
Oh. Well never mind then.
dead endhit in the Fast & Furious
investigations? Right?
Break classification rules for the public’s benefit, and you could be exiled.
Do it for personal benefit, and you could be President.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 1, 2016
... much like the dead end hit in the Fast & Furious investigations? Right...
In the great tradition of Sgt. Schultz.
Someone can remember making the cut but not who told her to make it - either lying or so stupid she didn’t keep a complete record of the incident for her own self-protection....
Say what? 300?? Seriously?
But lying, anti American Liberal, Socialist DemoRat scum do not.
Nonsense. An interminable parade of lies.....
All bets are off.
Have the primary suspects undergone waterboard interrogation yet?
Start at the top.
I crack up readin this BS, facts to imprison Hillary are already in EVIDENCE
Top Intelligence Men.
Can’t figure it out even though the number of people with access is very limited.
Sure.
Dana Perino (not a fan) said on a show last night that it would take them 5 minutes to find out who it was. She’s been in the White House and knows how things work.
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