White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Friday that they should ask the State Department about a U.S. Hellfire missile that accidentally ended up in Cuba, and minutes later, State refused to talk about it, citing legal reasons why it couldn’t expand on the issue at all.
The mysterious case of an American missile winding up in Havana is to this point mostly unexplained.
“I cannot comment on specific defense trade licensing cases, and compliance matters,” Earnest told reporters Friday.
“Obviously, this is something that both the department of Defense and State Department are quite keenly aware of, I think as you would expect. And so for additional questions about this I’d refer you to those two agencies,” Earnest said.
But State said it couldn’t talk.
“I am restricted, under federal law and regulations, from commenting on specific defense trade licensing and compliance matters,” State spokesman John Kirby said.
