Rep. Jason Chaffetz requested any documents that identifies State officials who made and received the request to delete the exchange. | Getty House GOP launching probe into State Dept. video editing

House Republicans are launching an investigation into who at the State Department is responsible for editing out an exchange between its top spokeswoman and a journalist who was pressing for details on the administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, demanding documents that could shed light into who ordered the deletion of the Iran discussion.


Among the details requested are any documents that identifies State officials who made and received the request to delete the exchange, show when the video was deleted and restored, and deal with any other requests to delete parts of press briefings from “publicly accessible portals” since Jan. 1, 2012.

The State Department admitted this week that the exchange between former department spokeswoman Jen Psaki and Fox News reporter James Rosen was intentionally deleted from the video posted on State’s YouTube channel.

"This admission proves once again that the White House intentionally misled the American people about the Iran deal,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said this week. “If they truly care about transparency, the administration should investigate who requested this selective editing and why.”

But State officials said Thursday that the department has hit a “dead end” in its own probe.

“We believe we’ve carried out the necessary investigation,” State spokesman Mark Toner said. “We have hit a dead end in terms of finding out more information. If more information does become available, if we are made aware of more information about who might have been behind this request, we’ll, of course, investigate.”

