The State Department hinted on Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry may skip an invitation to testify before Congress about how a 2013 press briefing video was edited to remove a key discussion about the Iran nuclear agreement.
On Monday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked that Kerry testify about the incident, which the State Department called a “glitch” for three weeks before finally admitting it was an intentional edit.
Chaffetz’s hearing on the matter is set for June 14.
But on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said no decisions have been made, and indicated that the department might be looking for someone else to go in Kerry’s place.
“That’s one thing we’re looking at: would he be the best person to answer the questions that they have, and speak to the issue?” Toner said.
Toner also hinted that Kerry simply may not be around for the hearing next week.
“I think we’re still having that conversation… through our… congressional liaison office with the committee directly, looking at a number of factors, including his availability as well as other issues,” Toner said.
“[A]s many of you know, he’s going to be on the road again next week. He’s not often in Washington,” Toner added. But Toner wouldn’t say where Kerry might be headed next week.
The department’s hints came just a few days after Kerry himself said he wants to know who ordered the video to be edited. He called it “clumsy” and “stupid.”
The edited portion of the video included comments from then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who seemed to agree that sometimes officials have to lie to the press and public in order to advance the government’s goals. Her answer was a response to a question about a prior spokeswoman who said there were no meetings with Iran about the nuclear agreement before 2013, something that later turned out to be false.
