On NewsNation’s Thursday broadcast of “The Hill,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said President Joe Biden’s comments to CNN about weapons to Israel were ” In fact, it is not the administration’s position,” he said (according to sources). Speaking to the White House, he said he was “frustrated by it” and called the false statements a “huge problem.”
host Blake Berman asked. “You know that on the left and on the right, there are divided opinions on this, and we just heard from the prime minister of Israel. Where do you stand on this and what the president said last night? I wonder what you thought of the comments.”
Smith said, “I think they lacked clarity, and what the president said there is not really the administration’s position. He said that if Israel were to enter Rafah in any way, we would And I spoke last night and today with National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby, Senior Advisor to the President Steve Ricchetti, and several others. It’s not really the administration’s position that if Israel did an offensive bombing raid on Rafah, we would restrict the sale of those kinds of weapons. I don’t mean to say that even if we get in, in fact, as we know, Israel is already in Rafah. So my main criticism of the administration and the president at this point is. , that they have not made clear what their policy is. It is not the Biden administration’s policy to completely cut Israel off if it enters Rafah.”
Berman then asked, “So why the difference?” Look, you’re the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, so you get to talk to people that other people don’t really talk to…but it’s clear – what you’re saying is what the president said. It’s different from last night. So why did the president say that? ”
Mr. Smith replied: The simple answer to this question is that the president thought he was expressing one thing, but he phrased it in a way that made it unclear. You see, we are humans. we express our thoughts. The details don’t always come out the way we would like them to. In the course of this interview, I’m sure I said something like, “I’ll go when it’s over,” but I didn’t say that explicitly. But this is a big problem. ”
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