When State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce took the podium Tuesday afternoon for a news briefing as people worldwide sought answers about what could happen next in the Middle East, she knew she was in a difficult spot.
Bruce said up front that she would take questions but couldn’t answer them all.
“There is always things I can’t say to you and yet we have a long back-and-forth, sometimes we have a little bit of debate – I won’t engage in that today,” she said. “There will be less that I can answer for you because of the circumstances we’re dealing with around the world.”
Israel has bombed Iran for the last five days as the U.S. ally seeks to destroy nuclear facilities and other military targets. Iran has retaliated by bombing Israel.
“This is something the State Department does when there is a situation that requires it and this is one of those times,” Bruce said.
Bruce went on to take questions from reporters representing news outlets around the world. Occasionally, she directed questions to other branches of the federal government, such as the Department of Defense or the White House. She also made it clear that President Donald Trump was taking the lead and she had no intention of getting ahead of the commander in chief.
One common refrain from Bruce: “I can’t speak to that.”
At another point, Bruce said: “I’m here to take questions, not necessarily always answer them.”
She did give an overarching answer to some of the many questions about what Trump wants to see happen with conflicts abroad.
Bruce said Trump seeks “durable ends” rather than short-term ceasefires in “forever wars” around the globe.
“That has been his posture, and that is his posture now,” she said.
