MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell deferred to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on the Friday edition of her program, and let the Obama administration flack attack the 47 Republican senators who signed an open letter to Iran's leaders. Mitchell led into the segment by playing President Obama's condescending "I'm embarrassed for them" and "it's close to unprecedented" shots at the senators, and gave Psaki a platform to promote the administration's talking points on the issue. [video below]
The journalist first pointed out that Secretary of State John Kerry's upcoming trip to Switzerland for "another round of nuclear talks with Iran negotiations – his first meeting with foreign minister Mohammad Zarif since forty-seven Republican senators here sent that letter to the Ayatollah trying to kill a nuclear deal." She continued with the soundbite of the President's attack from his recent interview with Vice News.
Mitchell then turned to Psaki and asked, "Let's talk about that letter and what these Republican senators did. You've heard what the President said. You were with Secretary Kerry when he lambasted them in his Hill testimony. How does that influence what Iran does at the negotiating table starting Sunday?" The spokeswoman replied with the same term that the President, along with many of the left, have been using:
JEN PSAKI: Well, the negotiations remain between the negotiators. So do we think this is going to have a direct impact on the room? No. But the fact is, as the President said, this is nearly unprecedented. It's bringing into question what has been precedent for hundreds of years, back to when members of Congress were riding horse and buggies to do their job. So it really does bring into question whether they want to see a deal – whether they want to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And that's, of course, what our objective is here.
The MSNBC anchor spent the rest of the short segment on Ayatollah Khamenei's social media response to the letter:
MITCHELL: Now the Ayatollah Khamenei actually Tweeted yesterday in response to that, saying – Tweeting, 'The team of negotiators appointed by President Hassan Rouhani has good, considerate, and trusty members who work for the benefits of the country. But I'm worried because the other side in the negotiations has a habit of deception and treason #IranTalks #IranLetter.'
What a day and age we're living in where the Ayatollah is Tweeting – or someone is Tweeting on his behalf – in response to a letter from these Republican senators. Iran is highly motivated-
PSAKI: It is a sort of a new means of communicating, isn't it?
MITCHELL: Well, it does indicate, from all reports, that Iran – because of the decline in oil prices; because of the sanctions – their economic troubles – they're very motivated to come up with something. Could this still all fall apart, or do you expect that they have gone past the point of no return with the end-of-March deadline?
PSAKI: Well, we will see, Andrea, and that's what we'll all be watching closely over the next two weeks. And this is what is interesting and historic about diplomacy – is the next two weeks, it's crunch time to see if we can get to a framework – to see if Iran is willing and ready to make the difficult choices. So in a couple of weeks from now, we'll certainly know more than we do today.
