US State Dept Still Won't Say If It Paid to Get Bergdahl Back

When the Obama administration isn’t lying, it’s just denying giving us any answers at all.

A State Department spokeswoman on Monday would not say whether any cash ransom was paid for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

The question came in the midst of a flurry of questions about the circumstances surrounding the deal. A high-level intelligence officer familiar with the years-long hunt for Bergdahl told the Washington Free Beacon last week that a ransom was almost surely paid.

“I have not heard anything about cash, I’m happy to check,” said State spokeswoman Marie Harf when asked about the prospect at Monday’s press briefing.

It was at least the third time since last week that State has refused to confirm or deny that any cash changed hands.

“I’m happy to check.” Yeah, no she isn’t. Checking means having to answer directly, and that’s something that Marie Harf and her cohorts in the Obama administration just won’t do. They can’t say yes or no if they don’t know. Harf is happy to stand up there and be the empty-headed spokesmodel, put where she is to put a young face on the administration and to kick out tweets while Putin moves around with tanks and troops. That’s her role, not to be credible by knowing things, but to be another method of marketing this wretched administration to low-information voters.

Harf lost Andrea Mitchell, of all people, who is one of the most hacktastic hacks in Washington. Yet she still has her job. Because to this administration, she’s serving her actual purpose.