The State Department insisted Thursday that it’s gone as far as it can to investigate who demanded that a 2013 press briefing video should be edited to remove a controversial discussion about the Iran nuclear agreement.
“We believe we’ve carried out the necessary investigation,” spokesman Mark Toner said. “We have hit a dead-end in terms of finding out more information.”
Toner said several times that if more information became available, the department could act. But he indicated there is no where else to look, and little else to do at this point.
“Until we find reason to pursue that investigation further, you know, we’re at a dead end,” he said.
The 2013 press briefing video was edited to remove a discussion with then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who was asked whether the government ever lies for national security. Psaki seemed to indicate this does happen, and sometime in late 2013, that part of the video was removed.
It was only restored about a month ago after reports surfaced that it was missing. State initially called it a “glitch,” but on Wednesday the department admitted it was done on purpose.
But on Thursday, Toner said officials were no closer to discovering who was behind it. He said a women video technician was told to alter the video, but said she has no recollection of who called her up.
Still, Toner insisted that officials believe it came from the Bureau of Public Affairs, and not anywhere else, including the White House.
When asked what steps the department might take going forward to figure out who made the call, Toner indicated that nothing else would be done except to hope for some breakthrough.
“At this point, we believe that we’ve done the forensics, we’ve identified that there’s a problem here …” he said. “But if we get new information as to where this request came from, we will investigate further.”
“That’s more or less it,” he added later.
Toner also indicated that even if officials found out who did it, that might not mean their dismissal from the department. When asked how the culprit might be punished, he indicated nothing might happen at all, since there was no rule in place about editing briefing videos at the time it happened.
“We believe that this was an inappropriate request, an inappropriate action, but it did not govern any rules that were in place at the time to govern that sort of action,” he said.
When pressed on whether that means it’s fine for the person to still be in the building, Toner replied with a circular argument that “we don’t have that individual or that individual’s name.”
Psaki has said she was not involved in the decision to edit the video, and her colleague at the time, Marie Harf, a top adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry, has also said she was not involved.
