Iran video scrubbing ‘stupid and inappropriate’— Kerry
PARIS: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday hit out at someone in his department for selectively editing footage of a press briefing on secret talks with Iran, calling it “stupid and inappropriate”.
Department lawyers were called to investigate after Fox News correspondent James Rosen noticed video of a question he posed in December 2013 was not in the public archive.
Spokesman John Kirby confirmed the edit was deliberate on Wednesday, saying a lowerlevel public affairs staffer had received a request to cut the section, but could not now remember who from.
“I am trying to find out what happened here, because as I say, it’s unacceptable,” Kerry told journalists during a trip to Paris.
“Whatever happened was both clumsy and stupid and inappropriate, and I’m trying to find out more details... I would like to find out exactly what happened and why.”
News of the mystery edit emerged as the US administration was defending its handling of the still controversial effort to secure last year’s nuclear deal with Iran.
President Barack Obama’s opponents in Washington allege that the White House misled the US public and concealed the extent of its outreach to Tehran.
In the edited section, then State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki appeared to confirm to Rosen that spokespeople had deliberately concealed backchannel talks. — AFP