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.
Victoria Nulan. (How ever it is, she spelled her name.)
This was her work. The media knows it. O’Reilly had her photo up last night.
Nulan was the boss of those two teeny bopper blonde airheads, serving as spokeblondes for the State Dept. fifteen months ago.
Fire them all and take away their lavish pensions until they find the culprit.
FLASHBACK:
Related:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3023686/posts
“Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham were vocal critics of the administration’s messaging after the Benghazi attacks, but on Friday, they issued a laudatory statement about Victoria Nuland”
Victoria Nuland
Spouse: Robert Kagan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7370992.stm
Robert Kagan is an adviser to Senator John McCain and his idea that the United States should continue to take a strong, and possibly a confrontational, role in world affairs accords with McCain’s own views.
Kagan’s brother Frederick was instrumental in persuading President Bush to reinforce US forces in Iraq with last year’s “surge”, against the advice of the Iraq Study Group of “wise men” at the time. The surge was and is a policy supported by John McCain and one of the reasons for his political success.
Obama taps Victoria Nuland for assistant secretary
Friday, May 24, 201
EXCERPT
Following the announcement, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is tasked with confirming her nomination, remained mum on her nomination, though a committee source speaking to The Cable said there is “very little chance” the nomination won’t trigger a fight.
Nuland, however, is something of an awkward target for Republicans. From 2003 to 2005, she served as principal deputy national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. Her husband is prominent neoconservative writer Robert Kagan, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century and an advisor to Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid.
Ha!
Now that we have 57 genders, the search for the guilty will be way easier....
She could probably figure it out!!
Tapper had better watch it, or he might not get invited to the White House holiday party this year. That would be devastating.
the truth will out
Then CHARGE ALL OF THEM with Conspiracy to Destroy Federal Records, a few months in GenPop will surely Jar their Memory!
These people all need be standing before a wall with blind folds on and the sound of m60s cycling should be heard.
Thanks, maggie. Nuland, it is.
Sure you have. Because when you find out who did it, that's pretty much a dead end in terms of finding out more information, isn't it?
I am so freakin' tired of "you little people don't need to know" that I could start firing somebody...if only there were someone in office who would be willing to do that. This is why they're afraid of Trump. I figure we need to clean out at least half of State, maybe more.
Perhaps a firing would help jog someone's memory.
The sad thing is that a number of people who had no part in this decision...are sitting there and more or less defending the idiot who did make the decision. They are all made to look that foolish. The whole organization ought to be forced into a mandatory four-hour ethics session because of the act committed by one single person.
no remedial classes to people making good money. Fire them and publish their names.
The editor could not remember who made the request because she gets so many request to edit videos.
Today’s lie of the day from the OB administration
How stupid do these two bit liars think we are? "Elites" my foot - these folks are white trash with airs...
Colonel Mustard in the billiard room with the knife!
They should hit a “Dead End” in their careers.
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