Kirby, Doocy get into exchange over claims UNRWA employees were involved in Oct. 7: “Who does this White House vet?”

The National Security Council’s John Kirby and Fox News reporter Peter Doocy got into a back-and-forth in Friday’s White House press briefing regarding Israel’s allegations that 12 UN employees were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. The State Department announced earlier on Friday that the U.S. has “temporarily paused additional funding” for the UNRWA while it reviews the claims.

“Who does this White House vet? Because we know that people coming across the southern border are not vetted. Now we know that people that are getting hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. money are not being vetted. So, who do you guys check out?” Doocy asked Kirby during the exchange.

“It’s interesting that you’re combining the two, the border and this,” Kirby snapped back. “This idea that just there’s no vetting and there’s no proper immigration enforcement going on at the border just does not comport with reality … Put that aside because that has nothing to do … with UNRWA and Gaza,” the NSC official continued.

“Up until today, the U.S. policy, then, has been, we don’t negotiate with terrorists, but we will give them hundreds of millions of dollars,” Doocy added during the exchange.

“That’s conflating here … That’s like saying the whole UNRWA is a terrorist organization,” Kirby responded.