White House refuses to confirm ‘Jihadi John’ reports
The White House on Thursday repeatedly refused to confirm news reports about the identity of “Jihadi John,” the man who has executed several prisoners of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
{mosads}“What I can tell you is that the United States government continues to aggressively investigate the individuals who are responsible for the murder of American citizens,” said press secretary Josh Earnest. “And at this point, I’m not in a position to confirm or deny that the individual in these reports is the individual that we’re searching for.”
Earnest repeated that he could neither confirm or deny that man’s identity three other times over the course of his afternoon briefing.
“I do think that you can infer from the fact that neither the United States government nor the British government is confirming the identity of this individual or the accuracy of these reports is an indication that the investigation is one that we are pursuing rather aggressively,” Earnest said.
“And over the last several months, at least, our investigators have found that it’s to their advantage to not talk publicly about the details or progress of the investigation.”
A Washington Post story published Thursday identified that man as the Kuwait-born Mohammed Emwazi, who was raised in London.
“Jihadi John,” who was first seen in an ISIS video beheading American journalist James Foley last summer, has become a menacing symbol of the militant group. He spoke with a British accent but his face was always obscured, with the exception of his eyes. He has also appeared in other ISIS videos.
British and U.S. authorities have been working on the investigation together and in September said they believed they had identified the man in the video.
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