Marie Harf, a top adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry, said Wednesday that she is not responsible for pushing to selectively edit a State Department briefing video in 2013 to delete a discussion about the Iran nuclear agreement, and has no knowledge about who made that decision.
Harf is Kerry’s senior adviser for strategic communications, and previously served as State’s acting spokeswoman and deputy spokesman when the video edit was made. Harf joins her former colleague, White House Communications Director Jen Psaki, in denying involvement in the purposeful decision to edit the video, an act that the State Department confirmed on Wednesday.
“As Jen tweeted yesterday, I also had no knowledge of nor would I have approved of this editing,” Harf told the Washington Examiner in an email. “I have no idea who asked for the editing of the tape.”
Psaki was a spokeswoman for the State Department in 2013 and Harf was her deputy, when a video was quietly edited to remove a portion of a press briefing dealing with the timing of when negotiations began with the Iran deal. Harf is now in charge of ongoing communications at State about the Iran deal.
Three weeks ago, State said the video appeared to be missing because of a “glitch.” But on Wednesday, current State Department spokesman John Kirby admitted that an official in the Bureau of Public Affairs directed the video to be edited. But he said it isn’t clear who did it or why.
The clip that went missing includes Psaki’s response to Fox news reporter James Rosen’s questions about when negotiations began with Iranian officials and whether that diplomacy began in 2012 or 2013, as the State Department had previously stated. Rosen asked Psaki if officials ever lied about those sorts of things 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.
Psaki has strongly denied ordering the video to be edited, arguing that she has been a strong advocate for providing greater information to the press, both in the White House and at State.
“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 Wednesday.
In a separate response to the 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.
