The White House has been sprung censoring French President Hollande use of the word Islamist with terrorism - now says it was a technical glitch
Monday, 04 April 2016
On 1 April 2016 French President met with President Obama for a series of France/US bilateral discussions.
The talks concluded with each President making a few remarks at the conference table, recorded in a video by the White House and published to the White House website that same day.
President Obama did not use the word Islam or Muslim to describe the terrorist attacks in France of Brussels but President Hollande did - speaking of Islamist Terrorism.
Amazingly - the White House says its recording device dropped out at precisely the time that President Hollande said "Islamist Terrorism" and resumed the instant those words had passed his lips.
On 1 April the apparent censorship was first reported by the US website MRCTV
VIDEO: WH Censors French President Saying ‘ISLAMIST Terrorism’
The White House website has censored a video of French Pres. Francois Hollande saying that “Islamist terrorism” is at the “roots of terrorism.”
The White House briefly pulled video of a press event on terrorism with Pres. Obama, and when it reappeared on the WhiteHouse.gov website and YouTube, the audio of Hollande’s translator goes silent, beginning with the words “Islamist terrorism,” then begins again at the end of his sentence.
Even the audio of Hollande saying the words “Islamist terrorism” in French have, apparently, been edited from the video.
And thanks to MRCTV here is that bit of the White House video - you'll hear the translator's voice drop out, but you'll also see the reactions of the US side of the table at that point. Obama and his team had the earpieces in and were listening to the simultaneous translation - even with all the diplomatic training you can see their reaction to the Islam word.
After the translator says "the roots of terrorism" the audio drops out, it's at that point that she repeats "Islamist terrorism" - watch the faces.
On 2 April MRCTV's story was picked up by the New York Post and others.
That story started to get momentum over the weekend.
On 3 April US time - the White House checked its files and the video/audio quality and it discovered - wait for it - that there had been an inexplicable "technical glitch" that resulted in the loss of audio onto the video, right at that exact Islamist moment.
I kid you not. The White House has now reposted the original Youtube with the complete audio intact, along with a "dog ate my homework" explanation.
The relevant bit is at 4.50 into the recording.
Believe them?