State Department deletes controversial portion of video

James Rosen joins 'The O'Reilly Factor' to discuss the removal of his question on the Iran deal

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," June 2, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: "Personal Story" segment tonight. On December 2nd, 2013, FOX News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen had this exchange with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: James, I had no information for you today on the timing of when there were any discussions with any Iranian officials?

JAMES ROSEN, FOX NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Let me try it one last way.

PSAKI: Okay.

ROSEN: I appreciate your indulgence.

PSAKI: Sure.

ROSEN: Is it the policy of the State Department, where the preservation of the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned to lie in order to achieve that goal?

PSAKI: James, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, after that exchange, somehow, it disappeared from the State Department's website as well as YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: A portion of the State Department's December 2nd, 2013 press briefing was missing from the video that we posted on our YouTube account and on our website. That missing portion covered a series of questions about U.S. negotiations with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Here now to explain further is James Rosen. We didn't show the whole thing that disappeared. They took a lot more out of it than what we were able to show for time. But I think they did this just because they don't like you, Rosen. Am I wrong?

ROSEN: You're not wrong that I am not well-liked amongst the senior counsels of the Obama administration. I have not suffered from any lack of attention from them over the two terms. But I think that the real reason, the motivation behind this deliberate censorship of this key exchange the only known instance of such censorship of any state department or White House briefing in the Obama terms that we know of was because of the content of it. And the fact that Jen Psaki had essentially acknowledged that her predecessor, at that podium, Victoria Nuland, 10 months earlier had lied to me and the rest of my colleagues about the Iran nuclear talks.

O'REILLY: Now, what exactly was the lie?

ROSEN: Okay. So there is Victoria Nuland. I asked her in February 2013. We hear reports of direct secret bilateral talks between members of the Obama administration and the Iranian government? True or false? And she said of the kind of government to government level contact you are talking about, no. At that time, those direct secret talks were going on for more than a year. Once they were.

O'REILLY: Okay. Why is that important? Look, there is no question they did not tell the truth. Okay. Why is it important? Why would they go to the extent of trying to get that off YouTube and get that out of their files? So, you lied, Rosen caught you in a lie. So what? I mean, that's -- then you just go ahead, right?

ROSEN: Nobody here asserts that the person who issued this order for this censorship was thinking or acting rationally, Bill.

O'REILLY: Okay. So there is no real reason to do it, other than you caught them in the lie, but that was transported all over the country. Everybody knew it. Who did it? On "THE FIVE" I said I was going to beat it out of you tonight.

ROSEN: Yes.

O'REILLY: You must have some -- and I don't want you to say this person did it. I want you to say as Sherlock Holmes might, here's what I'm deducing happened. Go.

(LAUGHTER)

ROSEN: Well, Bill, I admire your dogged investigative zeal in trying to rubber hose me. That's well placed, I think. Look, I'm not prepared to speculate on who issued this order. Jen Psaki has denied it in a very heated email exchange with me that our readers can see in detail on the FOXNews.com website. Marie Harp who was the deputy spokesperson at that time has denied having anything to do with this.

The State Department says they don't know who did it but they know it came from within the Bureau of Public Affairs at the State Department and they're able to rule out the White House. The State Department also says, for example, that they don't have the technology there at the State Department building in order to trace all of the calls that came in on this specific time frame to the person who says they were on the receiving end of this order.

I find that hard to imagine because when I was the focus of the Obama administration's attentions in 2013, including the State Department, the Department of Justice, all of which was well publicized. They seemed to have no problem accessing all the telephone records, all the metadata --

O'REILLY: Yes.

ROSEN: All the electronic records they needed. So, if they don't have that technology now at the State Department that would be a diminution in their capabilities --

O'REILLY: Well, they weren't telling the truth. I mean, they're trying to fed to make it go away -- Kerry was the Secretary of State at that time. Did he take over from Clinton yet?

ROSEN: Clinton took over -- Clinton left in February 2013, just before that critical exchange with Victoria Nuland.

O'REILLY: Okay.

ROSEN: So, Kerry inherited all of this in essence.

O'REILLY: All right. So maybe Hillary did it.

ROSEN: I think, Bill, that we are not past the season of disclosure with regard to this. I think you're going to see.

O'REILLY: So it's possible? Secretary Clinton might have done it. Possible?

ROSEN: Well, she was not within the Bureau of Public Affairs at that time. But, look, you're going to see members of Congress. You're going to see my colleagues in the mainstream news media continue with this story, CNN has picked up on it. "The Washington Post." These are not right wing zealots as far as I can tell.

O'REILLY: No.

ROSEN: And I think Jen Psaki is misplaced in suggesting that somehow this is just me wanting air time or FOX News going after her for ideological reasons.

O'REILLY: No. I would like to know who is trying to cover stuff up. I think that's important. So, we will stay on it, Rosen. We appreciate it. If anybody is mean to you, let me know and I will take care of them, okay?

ROSEN: Thank you, Bill.

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