House Speaker Paul Ryan called for an investigation after a State Department briefing video was edited. | Getty Ryan calls for further investigation into State Dept. video editing

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday called on the White House to further investigate the editing of a December 2013 State Department briefing video that deleted a question pertaining to secret negotiations between the United States and Iran.

The agency this week admitted to splicing out the clip on its YouTube channel.


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

Spokesman John Kirby said earlier Thursday that the agency would investigate the matter if more details come to light.

Deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at the daily briefing later that the editing of the video was not a specific violation of agency policy “as far as we have checked in terms of our Foreign Affairs Manual” and other department guidance.

“This was not in violation of existing policies or regulations,” Toner said. “We’re correcting that going forward.”

Toner said Kirby sent an email to the Bureau of Public Affairs on Thursday explaining the change in policy and what it is doing “to get to the bottom of this.”

“Until we find reason to pursue that investigation further, we’re at a dead end. But that in no way excuses the action that was taken. And I think Assistant Secretary Kirby has shown his commitment to the integrity of the bureau and the integrity of the State Department by taking the actions he’s taken and being as transparent as possible in explaining why he’s taking them.”

The guidance, Toner said, "will make clear that all video and transcripts from daily press briefings need to be immediately and permanently archived in their entirety," with exceptions.

"In the event that narrow and compelling circumstances require edits be made, like the inadvertent release of privacy-protected information, that just as an example, that would only be made with the express permission of the assistant secretary," Toner said.