House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Thursday at her weekly briefing that she has "confidence" in President Obama's belief that the Islamic State terrorist group was "contained."
Obama remarked that the terror group was contained in an interview last week with ABC, but those remarks came under fresh scrutiny after the terror group launched coordinated attacks in Paris last Friday that killed more than 120 people. At a press conference Monday, Obama was asked by multiple reporters whether he fully understood the group and if a new strategy was in order.
"Last week, President Obama said ISIS [the Islamic State] was contained," a reporter told Pelosi. "Was he right when he said that?"
Pelosi smiled as the question began but she appeared angry when she made her response.
"We are prepared to defeat ISIS by any definition," Pelosi said. "The president has engaged with more than 65 other countries to defeat ISIS. The president knows better than any of us the threat that they pose to the security of the world and to the American people. So I have confidence in the president's take on what is out there."
CIA Director John Brennan said this week that the terror group has grown 4,400 percent, with anywhere between 20,000 and 31,5000 fighters across the Middle East. CNN's Christiane Amanpour and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) were among those who said Obama was wrong to say that the Islamic State was contained.
"I’ve never been more concerned," Feinstein said on MSNBC Monday. "I read the intelligence faithfully. ISIL is not contained. ISIL is expanding."