House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz has asked Secretary of State John Kerry for the names of the government employees who deleted video footage from the agency’s website of a 2013 press briefing about the Iran nuclear deal, according to an email obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Chaffetz has asked Kerry to supply five documents that explain the events surrounding the deletion of the videos.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the deletion of two exchanges in 2013 between Fox News correspondent James Rosen and two State spokespersons was the result of “a deliberate request” and “wasn’t a technical glitch.”
Rosen had asked whether it was “the policy of the State Department where the preservation of the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned to lie in order to achieve that goal.”
The questions and answers were both removed from State’s site and its YouTube page.
The House Oversight Committee has asked for the documents by close of business on June 16, specifying that it wants:
1. Documents sufficient to identify, by name and job title, the individual or individuals who made and received the request to deliberately delete the video footage of the exchange between Mr. Rosen and Ms. Psaki at the December 2, 2013 daily press briefing.
2. Documents sufficient to show the dates of the deletion and restoration of the video footage of the exchange between Mr. Rosen and Ms. Psaki at the December 2, 2013 daily press briefing.
3. All documents and communications referring or relating to the deletion of video footage of the exchange between Mr. Rosen and Ms. Psaki at the December 2, 2013 daily press briefing.
4. All documents and communications, including, but not limited to, memoranda and investigatory reports by the Office of the Legal Adviser (L) referring or relating to the deletion of video footage of the exchange between Mr. Rosen and Ms. Psaki at the December 2, 2013 daily press briefing.
5. All documents and communications referring or relating to any other requests to delete portions of daily press briefings from publicly-accessible portals since January 1, 2012.
