WH Spox Jen Psaki Won’t Say Whether Obama Thinks ISIS is ‘Existential Threat’

In an interview with MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart, White House communications director Jen Psaki twice dodged a question about whether or not President Barack Obama believe ISIS poses an “existential threat” to the United States.

Earlier in the morning in an interview with NBC, the president opined that there were no existential threats to the U.S. “Let me follow up on what the president just said, there are no existential threats facing the United States. What about ISIS?” Diaz-Balart asked. “Republicans argue that ISIS does represent an existential threat.”

Psaki avoided directly answering the question in her response. “One thing the American people can expect tonight is the president is going to talk about how we have the greatest military in the world. We’re going to go after ISIS, we are going to defeat them, we are going to destroy them. There is no question about that.”

“If you listen to [Republicans], the country is headed toward doom and gloom, we’re headed toward really a negative future over the next five to ten years. The president absolutely doesn’t believe that…” she said.

Diaz-Balart decided to try again. “Let me rephrase that question again; does the president believe that there are no existential threats to the United States, and that groups like ISIS [are] not an existential threat to the United States?”

This time Psaki said the president believed ISIS was a threat. But once again, she avoided the larger question.

“I think the president believes that American power, American leadership needs to be used to yes, fight terrorists, but also to take advantage of opportunities. There are issues like climate change, like trade, that are really important for us to address as we lead the world globally,” she concluded.

Watch above, via MSNC.

[Image via screengrab]
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