The fracas over State Department spokesman Ned Price and White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki’s insinuations that reporters who ask for the facts behind the administration’s saber-rattling assertions, are Russian and ISIS sympathizers, is not dying down. AP reporter Chris Megerian posted an article yesterday about the Feb. 3 exchange between Price and AP reporter Matt Lee, on the claims that Russia was preparing fake videos of a Ukrainian attack in the Donbas. When Lee demanded evidence and not just assertions, Price tried to browbeat Lee by accusing him of believing Russia more than the U.S. and Britain.
The article also reports on Psaki’s gem when challenged for evidence that the ISIS leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurayshi, killed in a U.S. raid had actually blown himself up. Psaki demanded to know whether the reporter, NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe, was suggesting that “ISIS is providing accurate information” as opposed to the U.S. military. Rascoe countered: “I mean, the U.S. has not always been straightforward about what happens with civilians.”
