Biden Spox Takes Shot at Republican-Friendly Media During Briefing: ‘Inconvenient Facts Are Easy To Forget’

Tommy ChristopherOct 13th, 2023, 8:38 am

Biden NSC spokesman John Kirby took a shot at right-wing media outlets during a briefing, noting that “inconvenient facts are easy to forget” in those circles.

At Thursday’s White House press briefing, CBS News White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe asked Kirby about reports that the U.S. has decided to block access to $6 billion in funds that were unfrozen as part of a deal to bring home U.S. hostages. Those funds have been the subject of false attacks since the terrorist Hamas assault began.

Kirby used the question as an opportunity to reiterate some “inconvenient facts” that haven’t reached “certain audiences”:

ED O’KEEFE: Thank you. Thank you, John. What is the status of the $6 billion that Iran was set to have access to?

MR. KIRBY: It’s still sitting in a Qatari bank. All of it. Every —

ED O’KEEFE: Is there an agreement now —

MR. KIRBY: Every dime of it.

ED O’KEEFE: Is there an agreement now to, in essence, withhold it from Iran should they come asking for it?

MR. KIRBY: None of that money has been spent, and I have no updates to provide today.

ED O’KEEFE: Was a decision to reach a quiet understanding with Qatar about whether or not it would be accessed by Iran made because of the attack or political pressure in recent days?

MR. KIRBY: I’m not going to talk about diplomatic conversations one way or another, Ed. What I can tell you is that every single dime of that money is still sitting in a Qatari bank. Not one of it — not one dime of it has been spent.

I’d also remind because this ke- — you know, I — in certain audiences, inconvenient facts are easy to forget. The regime was never going to see a dime of that money.

And this account, although it’s moved from South Korea to Qatar, was set up by the previous administration for this exact purpose. In fact, I think it was back in 2018, the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo actually talked in quite some detail about how this money in these accounts could only be used for humanitarian purposes and that there was going to be oversight.

We’ve done nothing different. It is the same process. All we’ve done is move that fund from South Korea — where, for some technical reasons, it wasn’t accessible — to Qatar, where it is more accessible.

All that said, none of it has been accessed by the Iranian — by — by Iranian — by — by Iran at all. And even if they had accessed it, it wouldn’t go to the regime, it would go to approved vendors — that we approved — to go buy food, medicine and medical equipment, and agricultural products and ship it into Iran directly to the benefit of the Iranian people.