At the White House press briefing Thursday afternoon, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby fielded questions from reporters regarding the conflict in the Middle East and the current and anticipated involvement of the U.S.
Kirby was at the podium for over 30 minutes, addressing a variety of, frankly, pointed questions from the press corps, including Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich. The exchange got a bit testy as Heinrich pressed Kirby, particularly regarding attacks launched against U.S. troops in the region and the response (or lack thereof) thus far.
It's worth the watch to see Kirby's body language here, but here was their exchange:
HEINRICH: John, the president said that if Iran or its proxies attacked U.S. troops, that we would respond. What is he waiting for exactly?
KIRBY: He did say that.
HEINRICH: Where is the response?
KIRBY: He said that. And he said that we will —
HEINRICH: So repeating the warning is the response?
KIRBY: Jacqui, come on now.
HEINRICH: It's an honest question.
KIRBY: I'm not going to telegraph punches here from the podium. We have responded and retaliated in the past — quite aggressively, in fact, back in March — and as the president said, we will not hesitate to protect our troops and our facilities, but we're going to do it at a time of our choosing, in a manner of our choosing. And the decision to do it — if we do it — is his as commander in chief, and his alone.
The back-and-forth continued:
HEINRICH: He said that he issued a warning to the Ayatollah — this warning he talked about yesterday — how was that warning delivered?
KIRBY: I'm not going to get into that.
HEINRICH: Can you say if there was a phone call or there was a third party? Was there a message that was relayed after U.S. troops were injured?
KIRBY: There was a direct message relayed. That's as far as I'm going to go.
HEINRICH: And then why were the injuries not disclosed until Tuesday?
KIRBY: I'd have to refer you to the Pentagon
Heinrich pivoted then to questions about why Ariane Tabatabai is still serving at the Pentagon, given her close ties to Iran.
HEINRICH: Pentagon official Ariane Tabatabai...she was alleged to be involved in an Iranian government influence operation. There was some discussion about whether she should keep her security clearance — she did. But she's now the chief of staff for the office that's overseeing hostage negotiations. Is it appropriate for someone with these connections to the Iranian regime to be overseeing rescue operations for Americans that are being held by Iran-backed proxies?
KIRBY: I'd have to refer you to the Defense Department to speak to that, Jacqui.
So very little light was shed by Kirby on these legitimate questions. Nonetheless, kudos to Heinrich and her press corps peers for continuing to press on these issues.