President Obama's press conference Wednesday on the just-sealed Iran nuclear deal may well be best remembered for his answer about Bill Cosby and rape, but the question that dominated cable news on Wednesday night came from CBS News correspondent Major Garrett.
Garrett asked the president about four Americans, including a Washington Post reporter, being held by Iran on what the White House calls trumped-up charges, then added: "Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content, with all the fanfare around this deal, to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?"
Obama started out congratulating Garrett on how he manages to "craft those questions," then sternly disputed the premise that he's "content, as I celebrate, with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails," adding: "Major, that's nonsense, and you should know better." You can watch the exchange, and Obama's explanation for why it would have been foolish to tie the fate of the four Americans to the nuclear deal, below.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After the news conference, Garrett explained to his CBS News colleagues that he had meant to strike a nerve with his question. "Was it provocative? Yes. Was it intended to be as such? Absolutely," he said. "Sometimes you have to take a scolding from a president to get to an answer."
-
7 mountain hotels perfect for a tranquil autumn or winter escapeThe Week Recommends Get (altitude) high and unwind
-
‘Deskilling’: a dangerous side effect of AI useThe explainer Workers are increasingly reliant on the new technology
-
The biggest sports betting scandals in historyIn Depth The recent indictments of professional athletes were the latest in a long line of scandals
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
