MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell looked absolutely flabbergasted Monday night as she read the latest statement from the White House on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, a statement she told viewers was essentially a flat-out lie that contradicts previously acknowledged American intelligence findings.
After Israeli Priminister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a presentation Monday revealing documents suggesting that Iran has concealed an archive of its research into developing nuclear weapons, the White House released the following statement:
The United States is aware of the information just released by Israel and continues to examine it carefully. This information provides new and compelling details about Iran’s efforts to develop missile-deliverable nuclear weapons. These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people. The Iranian regime has shown it will use destructive weapons against its neighbors and others. Iran must never have nuclear weapons.
Mitchell read the statement on air and noted that it contradicts what former CIA Director Mike Pompeo testified to before Congress earlier this month. On April 12, Pompeo said of Iran’s commitment to the deal, “I have seen no evidence they are not in compliance today.”
Though Netanyahu’s presentation suggests the Iranians have been less than candid, it did not include any evidence that the country has violated the deal, and it does not suggest that the country has a “robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program.”
“This is basically a lie about US intelligence,” Mitchell said of the White House statement. “It’s stunning.”
