Josh Earnest spars with ‘Fox & Friends’ host Elisabeth Hasselbeck over Obama’s response to Paris attacks
As Wednesday’s raid in Saint-Denis was unfolding, White House press secretary Josh Earnest appeared on “Fox & Friends” to defend the Obama administration’s response to last week’s deadly terror attacks in Paris. And co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck pressed Earnest on what she described as Secretary of State John Kerry’s and President Barack Obama’s “aloof, apathetic and quite cavalier” reactions to the events in France.
“Josh, let me ask you this,” Hasselbeck said. “Following this initial attack in Paris where 129 people were brutally killed, the president of the United States referred to this as something that was a ‘setback.’ Secretary John Kerry then, in trying to draw a line of comparison between the Charlie Hebdo attacks and these recent Paris attacks, said that the attacks at Charlie Hebdo were ‘understandable.’ Do you understand how at this point how the verbiage needs to change a bit?”
Earnest’s response: “Well, Elisabeth, what I’d ask the American people to do is go look at the transcript of the president’s remarks in which he described the situation as ‘sickening,’ where he expressed his profound sorrow for what exactly had occurred. And I think what I would encourage you to do is to spend just as much time focusing on the president’s actions as you do his words.”
Hasselbeck was having none of it.
“His words matter,” she shot back. “Josh, I will stop you there.”
“Let me finish my answer,” the press secretary replied. “If you have me on your show to talk about a serious issue, give me an opportunity to answer the question.”
The testy exchange continued as Fox provided a split screen featuring Earnest, who was traveling with the president in the Philippines, the “Fox & Friends” couch in New York City and images from the ongoing terror raid in Paris.
“Josh, we’ve played fair before,” Hasselbeck said. “I would let you know the president’s words matter to me, not just to the American people but to those around the globe who are very concerned now. Our president’s words matter. He called it a ‘setback’ … why? Just a ‘setback’ seems cavalier. Go ahead and answer the question.”
Earnest did:
Elisabeth, if you would consider the president’s remarks, you will note that he called the attacks ‘sickening’ and expressed profound sorrow of what precisely had occurred. But I would encourage you to spend time to focus on the president’s actions.
Hours after this terrible terrorist attack took place, the president was on the phone with the president of France to offer any support that they needed in conducting the investigation, carrying out any responses they choose to carry out.
Hours later, the president convened a meeting of his national security team. The president invited the attorney general, the director of the FBI, the director of Homeland Security, the secretary of defense and other leaders to discuss exactly what the U.S. response should be. The first question that the president asked in that meeting was to make sure, to verify that all of the necessary steps were being taken inside the United States to ensure the safety and security of the American people and the U.S. homeland.
After that, there was an extended conversation about the intelligence and about what sort of military steps we could take to ramp up our efforts inside of Syria and make sure we can support our French allies if they chose to ramp up their efforts inside of Syria. That’s exactly what they’ve done, and we’ve supported them as they’ve done that.
