Reporters Clash at State Department Briefing

Two of my colleagues who cover the State Department got into a bit of a shouting match immediately after the daily briefing today, which is something I haven’t seen in 18 months of covering the department.

The trouble started earlier in the briefing when Elise Labott of CNN asked the department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland several questions about American leverage over Israel regarding their settlement activity before Said Arikat of Al Quds newspaper pushed Nuland with similar questions.

For whatever reason, Labott took exception to that and began excoriating Arikat mid-briefing. Once the briefing ended, Arikat pushed back, saying, “Elise, I can ask anything I damn well please.”

Ironically it was Nuland who eventually intervened and told to the reporters to “take it outside.”