State Department spokesman John Kirby had to say that the agency's flacks do not lie to the press at briefings during an appearance Thursday on Fox & Friends.
The State Department acknowledged Wednesday that a staffer edited out a question-and-answer during a 2013 press briefing about whether the Obama administration would deceive the American public over the Iran nuclear deal. Kirby has said that while investigating, the person who did the editing said that they could not remember who called to order it.
Co-host Tucker Carlson asked whether Kirby and other spokesman lie from the podium to reporters.
"I don't. First of all, no, we don't lie. That's a key tenant of being a spokesman. You can't lie," Kirby said. "The moment you do that, your credibility, your authenticity goes right down the toilet."
Co-host Brian Kilmeade played a clip from a prior interview with Richard Grenell, a former U.S. Spokesman at the U.N. under George W. Bush, who said a "coverup" was clearly happening.
"There's a coverup going on right now. You don't get to just say that a violation of the Federal Records Act is a done deal. ‘Oh, we're already done and forget it, we're moving on.’ That's not what happens," Grenell said. "This is about credibility of government."
"Is there a coverup?" Kilmeade asked Kirby.
"No, there's no coverup, not at all. And I think you guys know me well enough to know that I would never abide by any such thing. As I said, we interviewed this individual, we tried to find out what happened. Where I am now is where I was yesterday ... We just don't know who made the request and why," Kirby said. "But if additional information were to come to light that could change our understanding of the events, you're darn right I'd take a look at it deeper, and we'll see where it takes us."