Unbelievable. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was on all 5 Sunday shows this morning, but while on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” he accidentally outed the young American woman currently held hostage by ISIS:
Oh FFS… via @ForeignPolicy: White House gaffe outs American held by the Islamic State. http://t.co/YYcH9zx5aC pic.twitter.com/3IMJUAXFDe”
— #FutureCascadiaReturnee (@BillPutnamPhoto) January 25, 2015
According to Foreign Policy, the administration has specifically asked that the media not name her in its reporting. Oops.
https://twitter.com/RosiTed/status/559451505225641984
When ppl like Les Gelb and @RadioFreeTom lament rank incompetence of Obama's natsec team, realize: it's not partisan: http://t.co/t9JntovmVL
— The Nats Won The World Series (@EsotericCD) January 25, 2015
And for once, we agree with Piers Morgan:
Idiot. > RT @Mediaite: WH Chief of Staff Accidentally Reveals First Name of ISIS Hostage http://t.co/uIo8TPpltJ pic.twitter.com/uQdmOv8O7K
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 25, 2015
Although “idiot” is probably not strong enough.
An excerpt from the Foreign Policy story:
Then, in what administration officials conceded was a gaffe, McDonough used the woman’s first name before adding that her “family knows how strongly the president feels about this. And we will continue to work this.”
This is the first time that any part of the aid worker’s name was revealed by the administration. U.S. officials and the hostage’s family maintain the release of her identity draws more attention to the case, making it harder to negotiate her release. Foreign Policy will not publish her name.
In an email to Foreign Policy, the White House said it would not address McDonough’s misstatement.
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Exit question, via National Journal’s Ron Fournier:
Oh, no. How big of a deal is this, @mattapuzzo? https://t.co/vHCpu5MgBN
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) January 25, 2015
What’s potentially worse, however, is that ABC News still names the woman in their transcript. (Which we’re not linking to)
Get with it ABC, and fast.
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