CBS correspondent Major Garrett said that his question during a televised White House press conference Wednesday that prompted a scolding from President Obama “struck a nerve.”
Garrett said the essence of his question concerned the U.S. being content leaving out of its nuclear deal with Iran a condition that Americans currently held in that country be released.
{mosads}“Clearly it struck a nerve,” Garrett told CBS anchor Contessa Brewer. “That was my intention. Because everyone who works for the president, and the families of those four Americans, have heard the president say he’s not content and they will work overtime to win their eventual release.”
“Was it provocative? Yes. Was it intended to be as such? Absolutely,” Garrett said on the network’s livestreaming website, adding he wanted to get Obama to share “a full range of his interpretation of the whys and why nots” of not including the release of the Americans in the deal announced Tuesday.
“I believe that was achieved. Sometimes you have to take a president’s scolding, if that’s the best way to characterize it, in order to get to an answer like that, that’s part of my job. My skin’s plenty tough enough, and I look forward to the next press conference,” Garrett added.
Moments before, Obama slammed the suggestion that he was “content” with Americans sitting in jail while his administration pushes for Congress to support the deal, which was reached early Tuesday.
“Major, that’s nonsense. And you should know better,” Obama said during the news conference.
Obama noted during that he has met with family members of some Americans being held in Iran and that U.S. officials were still working on their release.
The reporter’s interaction with Obama quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who entered the GOP presidential race on Monday, praising him.