CBS Reporter Defends Question That Made President Obama Bristle

President Barack Obama's response to a CBS reporter's question during his press conference on the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday has been getting a lot of attention. Reporter Major Garrett asked the President about four American citizens who are currently being held hostage in Iran and why their release wasn't part of the agreement, asking, "Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscious, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these 4 Americans?" President Obama rebuked Garrett, saying, "The notion that I'm content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails, Major that's nonsense. And you should know better."

President Obama would go on to explain he didn't want to let the Iranian government think they could get concessions by using these four lives as a bargaining chip. Garrett defended his question the next day on CBS This Morning, "The President believed I was suggesting he was content with the Americans' captivity. That wasn't the basis of my question, it wasn't my intent. What I wanted to drive at, aggressively, was why in a context when the President conceded many times in that press conference that choices had to be made and priorities had to be established, these four Americans weren't prioritized the context of the Iran deal."

The CBS News contributor isn't sure that he was tough enough with his question, as he explained to Charlie Rose, "And personally, Charlie, I've done some soul searching about it, whether I've been aggressive enough as a reporter on behalf of hostages who are Americans held overseas."

In a separate discussion with CBS News anchor Contessa Brewer, Garrett said he intended to strike a nerve with his question. The reporter clearly doesn’t regret asking the question he did, "I get to ask questions and it's a huge responsibility and I am perhaps an imperfect articulator of those questions but I ask them. Politicians give me answers and then public, as they have in the past 24 hours, can pick apart every part of the question and the answer."