House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., on Friday asked the State Department’s Inspector General to investigate the altering of a video in 2013 that hid a key part of a discussion about the Iran nuclear talks.
Royce wrote to Inspector General Steve Linick to ask for a formal investigation after the State Department admitted on Wednesday that the video was altered on purpose, and that officials didn’t know who did it.
State also said it would not be investigating any further into who was behind the alteration.
“In tampering with this video, the Bureau of Public Affairs has undermined its mission to ‘communicate timely and accurate information with the goal of furthering U.S. foreign policy,'” Royce wrote. “This is all the more troubling given that the video in question dealt with hugely consequential nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
On Wednesday, the department admitted that the video was intentionally altered, in an apparent attempt to hide a discussion in which then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki seemed to agree that sometimes officials lie to protect national security.
“James, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that,” Psaki replied to Fox News reporter James Rosen.
State initially said it was a “glitch,” and even on Thursday it said it’s not obvious that the edit was actually an intentional edit.
But Royce said there are still several unanswered questions, including how it’s possible that no one at the State Department knows who asked for the edit to be made.
“For instance, it remains unclear why the exchange between Ms. Psaki and reporters was stricken from the video recording,” he wrote.
“How is it not possible to determine who in the administration ordered that the video be altered, as the current spokesman has asserted?”
“Will there be no accountability?” he asked. “Have there been other instances where the State Department has altered the public record?”
Read Royce’s letter here:
