White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted at Friday's briefing that investigators and the administration still do not know a motive for the shooting in San Bernardino, California this week that killed 14 people and injured 21 others.
"What it looks like is people who were obviously intent on carrying out a terrible act of violence," Earnest said. "For divining their motives, and getting a better sense of what the eventual plan may have been, that’s something that the FBI will speak to."
The spokesperson’s comment came despite evidence that one of the shooters praised the Islamic State at the time of the attack. Tashfeen Malik pledged her allegiance to the terrorist organization that is responsible for the coordinated shooting attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
ABC’s Jon Karl pushed Earnest to admit that new evidence clearly indicates the attack was not a matter of workplace violence, but Earnest did not budge. He labeled it as an "act of violence."
After Earnest's presser, the FBI announced their investigation would go forward on the assumption that the attack was an act of terrorism.
"As of today, based on the information and facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism," David Bowdich of the FBI in Los Angeles said during a news conference where he announced the agency will take over the investigation from local police because of the "trajectory of the case."