Sotloff Family Tells CBS They Were 'Bullied' By Obama Administration; NBC and ABC Ignore
Appearing on Wednesday's CBS This Morning, Barak Barfi, spokesman for the family of beheaded journalist Steven Sotloff, ripped the Obama administration over it's handling of the kidnapping of Sotloff and fellow journalist James Foley by ISIS terrorists: "We never really believed that the administration was doing anything to help us. We had very, very limited contact with senior officials..."
Moments later, Barfi accused the White House of intimidating the families of the hostages: "The families sat with this National Security Council official and basically he bullied and hectored them and they were scared....I sat in other meetings with mid-level State Department officials and the FBI and I basically heard the same thing." [Listen to the audio]
Co-host Norah O'Donnell followed up: "This is a serious charge because you're saying that someone within the National Security Council bullied and hectored the Sotloff family, is that correct?" Barfi reiterated:
That's basically what happened. The Sotloff's feel this. And I'm hearing that [White House chief of staff] Denis McDonough saying they weren't threatened. He wasn't in the meetings. John Kerry wasn't in the meetings. The family was in the meetings and then I was in a subsequent meeting, and I know what I heard.
O'Donnell replied: "Why would the White House do that to a family?" Barfi explained: "We don't know. We don't have a view into the White House. We didn't have a very good relationship with the administration....we don't know what the administration's policy was on this."
NBC and ABC have failed to notice the Sotloff and Foley families criticizing the White House.
On September 9, Barfi appeared on CNN's AC 360 and told host Anderson Cooper: "We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in the larger game of bureaucratic infighting and Jim and Steve are pawns in that game..."
CBS This Morning covered Barfi's remarks the next morning, while NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America skipped the story.
On September 12, This Morning covered another CNN interview with Foley's mother, who denounced the Obama administration's "appalling" response to her son's kidnapping.
Again, NBC and ABC were silent on the matter.
Here is a full transcript of the September 17 interview with Barfi on This Morning:
7:32 AM ET
NORAH O'DONNELL: ISIS videos showing the murders of American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley brought their family's private horror to an international audience. The families are making it clear this morning they wanted to do more to save their loved ones but U.S. officials wouldn't help.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The Price of Terror; U.S. Firm On Policy Not to Pay Ransom for Hostages]
Steven Sotloff, who made it his mission to report on the conflicts in the Middle East, was kidnapped last year in Syria, near the city of Aleppo.
SHIRLEY SOTLOFF: As a mother I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over.
O'DONNELL: His mother Shirley made a public appeal to his captors last month, begging for her son's release. But behind closed doors, she and the family of James Foley were at odds with the U.S. government and its longstanding policy against paying ransom to terrorists.
JOSH EARNEST [WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY]: Paying ransoms only puts other Americans in a position where they are at even greater risk.
O'DONNELL: Last May, the families say a White House official threatened criminal prosecution if they paid a ransom. A charge the administration denied Sunday.
DENIS MCDONOUGH [WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF]: We didn't threaten anybody but we made clear what the law is. That's our responsibility, is to make sure that we explain the law and uphold the law.
O'DONNELL: The Sotloffs dropped their efforts to raise ransom money. In July, President Obama authorized a rescue attempt inside Syria with dozens of helicopters and 70 to 80 commando troops. No hostages were found, but they did find evidence that Sotloff and Foley had been there.
The Foleys grew frustrated after France and Spain spent several million dollars for the freedom of six European journalists. So they ignored the threat of prosecution and continued their efforts to pay a ransom.
JOHN FOLEY [JAMES FOLEY'S FATHER]: We couldn't do nothing, you know? I mean, If they weren't going to rescue them, they couldn't get them home, what do you do? Leave your kid in jail to get beaten? No way.O'DONNELL: Barak Barfi is a longtime friend of Steven Sotloff and a research fellow at the New America Foundation. He acts as spokesman and adviser for the Sotloff family. Good morning, Brock.
BARAK BARFI: Good Morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The ISIS Effect; Sotloff Friend On Steven's Kidnapping and Killing]
O'DONNELL: Let me first say, we want to express our condolences to you and the Sotloff family. How are his parents doing?
BARFI: It's very, very difficult for us at this time. We just cannot accept that we will not see Steven again. We heard from him from the hostages, we saw all the other hostages get out. We just don't understand why these two Americans had to die.
O'DONNELL: Did you feel like the U.S. government gave the Sotloff family the help that they wanted?
BARFI: Not at all. We never really believed that the administration was doing anything to help us. We had very, very limited contact with senior officials, it was basically limited to two FBI agents. And when I tried to ask for a senior point of contact, all the administration said is, "You can speak to the Councilor of Bureau Affairs at the State Department."
CHARLIE ROSE: What would you have wanted them to do?
BARFI: What I wanted to do from the beginning is have a senior point of contact in the White House that answers directly to the President to gather information from the various arms of the government so that they could coordinate better and convey that information. Charlie, when I needed to talk to an FBI agent about a very important matter I had to wait 45 minutes before he could call me back. And that's not his problem, that's the system's problem.
ROSE: So you simply wanted somebody to be coordinating the information and talk to you.
BARFI: We wanted him to coordinate the information, we wanted a 24-hour crisis center where we call and they can respond to us immediately, just like the Europeans have.
GAYLE KING: Now there are reports that the Foley's were considering raising money. Did the Sotloffs try to do that to pay a ransom?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The ISIS Effect; Sotloff Friend On Accusations of Gov't Threats]
BARFI: Gayle, what happened is we had meetings with the administration. The families sat with this National Security Council official and basically he bullied and hectored them and they were scared. He had no business telling-
KING: Bullied them how, Barak? Exactly what do you mean?
BARFI:: He's a Marine and he is not a Justice Department lawyer, he's not an official from the Organization of Foreign Asset Control, the Treasury. He shouldn't be telling them what the law is. He's a counterterrorism specialist. That is what he should be talking to them about.
And then after they had these meetings, I sat in other meetings with mid-level State Department officials and the FBI and I basically heard the same thing. I tried to come up with creative solutions how we could get around the law. I said, "Well, how do you know that the group holding Steve is a terrorist organization?" "We know," they said. "Well, how would you know if we tried to transfer money?" "The banks wouldn't allow it." They shot us down at every opportunity.O'DONNELL: I just – this is a serious charge because you're saying that someone within the National Security Council bullied and hectored the Sotloff family, is that correct?
BARFI: That's basically what happened. The Sotloff's feel this. And I'm hearing that Denis McDonough saying they weren't threatened. He wasn't in the meetings. John Kerry wasn't in the meetings. The family was in the meetings and then I was in a subsequent meeting, and I know what I heard.
O'DONNELL: Why would the White House do that to a family?
BARFI: We don't know. We don't have a view into the White House. We didn't have a very good relationship with the administration. They met very – they met just once or twice with administration officials and a couple follow-up phone calls. So we don't know what the administration's policy was on this.
ROSE: Has the White House or the administration's attitude or communication or contact changed since the awful beheading of Steven?
BARFI: We had one – we had two phone calls with a senior White House official. One to inform us of the raid and another to make a request that was rebuffed.
KING: You actually spoke to Steven the morning that he was kidnapped. Every time I look at that video – and I refuse to look at the actual incident – but he's sitting there so stoically, no tears, no plea, no nothing, what was he like and what was he thinking the day that he was kidnapped?
BARFI: Steve was one of the nicest people you could meet. He would've said, "I don't need all this attention about my execution. Focus it and channel it to the hundreds of thousands of people that are dying in Syria and Iraq. Their story is not being told." He didn't want the limelight shined on him.
KING: What was he thinking the day of the kidnapping? You talked to him.
BARFI: He was going to go in, he was going to do one last run, just like the George C. Scott movie, and then he was gonna get out. He had some high-level meetings set up, but unfortunately he never made it.
ROSE: But his mission and his legacy was to explain what was happening to the American public through his reporting.
BARFI: Charlie, Steve wanted to give a voice to those who had none. That was his mission from the first day that he started reporting in the Middle East. He went to places where other people didn't go. He spent months in Benghazi after the 9/11 attacks. He spoke to Ahmed Abu Khattala, the man that the United States believes was behind that. He went to his house, he befriended him. They weren't friends, but he established a relationship where Abu Khattala was able to trust him.
ROSE: And he did this knowing the risk that it is for people in that region today.
BARFI: Always. There's always a risk in these regions. But the American people deserve to know what's going on out there.
KING: Yes, and he has done that. We're thinking about him and the Sotloff family. Thank you for coming in today.
BARFI: Thanks for having me.
O'DONNELL: Thank you, Barak. Thank you.
KING: I know this was tough.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
