Kerry: Plane Crash Probe 'Grotesque,' 'Compromised'

Also, Fox busts secretary of State with hot mic moment
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2014 10:21 AM CDT

John Kerry is off and running on the media blitz known as appearing on all five Sunday talk shows, and—with developments breaking this morning from Israel to the Malaysia Airlines plane crash—he has no shortage of things to discuss. Highlights, as per Politico:

  • On the crash site: "It's been seriously compromised. On Friday, the monitors and the people trying to get in there to secure the site were given 75 minutes. Yesterday, they were given three hours. Drunken soldiers are piling bodies into trucks unceremoniously and disturbing the evidence. Anything that has been removed compromises the investigation. We need full access. This is a moment of truth for Russia." Further, "What's happening is really grotesque."

  • On the Ukraine rebels involvement in the crash: "It's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia into the hands of separatists. We know with confidence, with confidence, that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point and time so it obviously points a very clear finger to the separatists."
  • His hot mic moment: While talking to an aide ahead of his appearance on Fox News Sunday, Kerry was caught discussing Israel. "It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation," he said. "We’ve got to get over there. Thank you John. I think John, we ought to go tonight. I think it’s crazy to be sitting around."
  • On a ceasefire in Gaza: "We're hopeful, very hopeful, that we could quickly to try to find a way forward to put a cease fire in place so that the underlying issues, so that we can get to the questions. But you cannot reward terrorism. There can't be a set of preconditioned demands that are going to be met."
(More John Kerry stories.)

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