President Barack Obama holds a news conference in the East Room of the White House July 15, 2015 in Washington, D.C. Obama took questions from reporters about the agreement between the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany and Iran over that country's nuclear program. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Republicans in Congress oppose the deal that will lift economic sanctions against Iran and put its nuclear program on hold for 10-12 years. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
CNN reporters: Journalist was out of line asking Obama about American hostages
CNN's Dana Bash and Don Lemon criticized CBS News' Major Garrett Wednesday for asking President Obama how the White House could hail its nuclear deal with Tehran even as four Americans are being held prisoner by Iran.
"I've been a White House reporter," Bash said after the White House press briefing Wednesday. "You know what it's like to stand up and ask the president a question — and you do want to be tough."
"But there's a fine line, especially standing in the East Room — a fine line between asking a tough question and maybe crossing that line a little bit, and maybe being disrespectful. So I think that that happened there," she added.
CNN's Don Lemon added, imitating what he suspected Obama was really thinking in response to the CBS News reporter's question, "Well, let me tell you basically what [Obama] was saying [in his response to Garrett], which was, 'Man, look here, are you out of your damn mind.'"
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"That's exactly what the tone was. To put the question in that form, I was at home watching, going 'Wait a minute,'" Lemon added. "It was a little out of school."
During a press briefing on the White House's nuclear agreement with Tehran, Garrett asked Obama about four Americans who are currently being detained in Iran.
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"As you well know there are four Americans in Iran. Three held on trumped-up charges, according to your administration, and one whereabouts unknown," he said, referring to Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, retired U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian and former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran years ago.
Garrett added, "Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?"
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The president did not appear at all pleased with the question.
"I got to give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions. The notion that I am content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails — Major, that's nonsense and you should know better," Obama said.
"I've met with the families of some of those folks. Nobody's content," he added.
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