White House spokesperson John Kirby breaks down in tears on TV

A White House spokesperson broke down in tears and struggled to get his words out on live television Monday after being asked about the shocking surprise attack by Hamas on Israel. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council who has been consistently briefing the press with updates on American hostages, was interviewed by Jake Tapper Monday and asked Kirby about the images he was seeing in the Middle East.

‘I, uh, I – sorry. It’s very – excuse me. It’s very difficult to look at these images, Jake, and the human cost. These are human beings,’ he said, unable to keep his composure and eventually breaking down. ‘They’re family members, they’re friends, they’re loved ones, cousins, brothers, sisters. Yeah, it’s difficult and I apologize,’ Kirby said, struggling to get the words out. President Joe Biden finally released a written statement Monday condemning ‘inexcusable hatred and violence’ in the terror attack on Israel , as he revealed ‘at least’ 11 Americans have been killed in the carnage. Tapper reassured Kirby that ‘he has nothing to apologize for’ on his CNN program.

‘Some of the images I was referring to had to deal with elderly people at a bus stop who had been slaughtered. Young women taken hostage, their pants filled with blood presumably because of being repeatedly sexually assaulted,’ Tapper added. CNN reporter Nic Robertson also professed on air to being ‘hit emotionally’ by images from the attacks. Uncertainty remains over the number of American hostages now being held in Gaza. Kirby confirmed earlier Monday that the U.S. and Israel had been in touch. Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, the IQB, said: ‘We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding.’

The head of the Israeli Defense Forces has already threatened to lay siege to Gaza. ‘I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” said Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. ‘We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.’ Kirby provided an evening briefing to reporters where he said the administration was still gathering information on any potential hostage situation involving Americans – with no firm information yet. ‘We can’t confirm that they are in fact holding hostages,’ Kirby said. ‘We are working literally by now to try to get more information about these unaccounted for Americans. The truth is, we don’t have a solid idea of how many total are unaccounted for,’ he said.

He said Biden ‘has directed his team to work with their Israeli counterparts on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts.’ ‘That said, we have to accept the grim possibility that some are. I don’t want to say we’re assuming it, but we have to accept that grim possibility.’ Biden used his statement to speak in emotional terms about the devastation in Israel. He said: ‘It’s heart wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence.

‘We also know that American citizens still remain unaccounted for, and we are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their whereabouts. My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days. The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable. The safety of American citizens—whether at home or abroad—is my top priority as President. While we are still working to confirm, we believe it is likely that American citizens may be among those being held by Hamas.’

Biden said Americans stand ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ with Israel, and said the U.S. State Department is providing consular assistance to the many U.S. citizens who may have been traveling there. ‘Please also take sensible precautions in the days ahead and follow the guidance of local authorities,’ he urged. He cited close ties between the U.S. and Israel, in a relationship that goes back to minutes after Israel was founded. It is a relationship that also carries great weight in domestic politics. Biden also spoke of steps to guard against potential domestic threats and antisemitism.

With Biden keeping his head down Sunday and Monday, National Security Advisor John Kirby appeared on Fox, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared on CBS Sunday after standing at Biden’s side Saturday, and security official John Finer was on CBS Monday morning. John Finer told CBS News on Monday that Iran was ‘broadly complicit in these attacks’ but that the U.S. had not seen ‘any sort of direct involvement in the immediate attacks that took place over the last couple of days.’ Kirby also said Iran was ‘complicit’ while saying the U.S. had not evidence of Iranian involvement in the attack at this time. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Hamas ‘wouldn’t be around in the way that it is without the support that it’s received from Iran over the years,’ but also said ‘we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.’

The White House also released a joint statement from the leaders of the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom expressing ‘steadfast and united support to the State of Israel, and our unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and its appalling acts of terrorism.’ ‘We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned. There is never any justification for terrorism,’ they said. Earlier, Biden was lambasted for staying silent on Monday as war raged and nine Americans were confirmed dead in ‘Israel’s 9/11 ‘. The president delivered a speech lasting less than three minutes on Saturday condemning the brutal Hamas terrorist attack. On Sunday, he was briefed that Americans were among the victims but he said nothing publicly all day, and still went forward with hosting a staff BBQ, featuring a live band, at the White House.

Then, on Monday morning, as the world awaited his response to the loss of American life, the White House said Biden would not be making any appearances for the second day in a row. Meanwhile, other world leaders publicly expressed support for Israel. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby assured on Monday that Biden was at the White House despite the lack of public events. ‘You’ve got to be [Expletive] me?!? It’s Monday at noon,’ Donald Trump Jr. posted to X upon hearing news the president had decided not to make any remarks. He added: ‘Our greatest ally in the Middle East is at war, women and children are being slaughtered and raped in the streets, and our imbecile president is checking out before lunch?’

Following an intense backlash, the White House was forced to release a detailed account of what Biden was doing Monday to respond to the conflict. It included meeting earlier in the morning with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. In the last two days, Biden has posted several tweets from the official POTUS account about a wide variety of topics including student debt relief, taxing billionaires, creating good-paying union jobs and backing technology innovations. He did post once on X about the ongoing conflict, writing: ‘This morning, I spoke with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] to express my full support for the people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.’

During the call, Netanyahu reportedly told Biden that a ground offensive in Gaza against Hamas is critical and there is no time for negotiations. Instead of hearing from Biden on Monday regarding the American deaths, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates released a statement slamming Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for using the violence as an ‘opportunity’ to put the blame on the president. Republicans were quick to claim that Biden’s three-minute remarks on Saturday were not enough to show the extent of the U.S. support for Israel. They also blame Biden for the attack and say his un-freezing of $6 billion to Iran last month in exchange for the release of five Americans detained in Tehran is what funded the Hamas attacks.

Biden notably announced the release of these funds from the frozen account in South Korea on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks last month. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that he has yet to see evidence Iran ‘directed or was behind’ the Hamas attack. Matt Miller, Department of State spokesperson, echoed the sentiment on Monday that there is no ‘direct intelligence’ that shows Iran was ‘directly involved in this terrorist attack.’ Iran’s United Nations mission has denied Tehran’s involvement in Hamas’ terrorist operation. It is unclear how many American citizens were injured in the attacks, and whether any are being held hostage by the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

While the names of those killed are not yet released, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Monday morning that the agency is in touch with their families ‘and providing all appropriate consular assistance.’ ‘We cannot confirm that [Americans were taken hostage] at this point,’ he told CNN. ‘There are reports of that, but there are Americans who are unaccounted for, and our first priority is to locate those Americans, find out what their status is in the coming hours and days.’

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