White House Communications Director Jen Psaki said Wednesday that she had nothing to do with the decision to selectively edit a State Department press briefing video to clip out a discussion about the Iran nuclear agreement.
Psaki was a spokeswoman for the State Department in 2013, when a video was quietly edited to remove a portion of a press briefing dealing with the Iran deal.
On Wednesday afternoon, current spokesman John Kirby said it’s been determined that an official from State’s Bureau Public Affairs directed the video to be edited. But he said it isn’t clear who did it, or why.
Psaki, who’s controversial comments were clipped from the video, said she was not the one who ordered the edit.
“I had no knowledge of nor would I have approved any form of editing or cutting my briefing transcript on any subject while [at] @StateDept,” she tweeted”:
I had no knowledge of nor would I have approved of any form of editing or cutting my briefing transcript on any subject while @StateDept
— Jen Psaki NARA (@Psaki44) June 1, 2016
In a separate response to the Washington Examiner, Psaki added, “I believe deeply in providing the press as much information on important issues as possible.”
A government official close to the issue said “poor judgment” within the department likely made it possible for the request to be made and then approved, and said Psaki was unaware of the video was edited at all until it was raised recently.
The official said while at State, Psaki was an advocate for getting the press more access to top officials, and supported briefing the press about U.S. talks with Iran.
The section of video that was removed is controversial because she seems to admit that the government sometimes lies to the public 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 in the now-restored video.
