State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki found herself in an embarrassing situation at Tuesday's press briefing when she was unable to list any successes or gains made against ISIL under President Obama's strategy.



Psaki spent nearly twenty seconds flipping through her binder after Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked if it was "distressing" for the administration that ISIL hasn't retreated.





MATT LEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Jen, you said that the President had laid out a clear and comprehensive strategy for dealing with this. Is it not at all distressing to the Administration that this clear and comprehensive strategy thus far has seen ISIL make gains rather than driving – than retreat?



JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Well, in fact, I would disagree with that, Matt. There have been certainly gains made by the Iraqi Security Forces in Iraq. I can go through some of those for you if that would be useful.



We’ve said from the beginning and the President has said from the beginning that this would be a – an – would not be overnight, that this would be a long-term effort. And certainly, I outlined – as I just outlined, there are some strategy objectives that we’re focused on. We’ve gone after refineries. We’re going after strategic locations. And let me just tick through these and then we can go to your next question. Sorry. Some of our successes we’ve seen on the ground by the Iraqi Security Forces. One moment.



[Psaki flipping through binder]



PSAKI: Well, I’ll find these. Sorry.



LEE: Okay.



PSAKI: Sorry, I wanted to highlight them --



LEE: Does that mean there aren’t any? (Laughter.)



PSAKI: That does not at all mean that, Matt. There have been – the Iraqi Security Forces have pushed back and regained territory, and I just wanted to list through those. But I’ll find them before we end the briefing.