Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that he will go to Paris to represent the United States in the world’s solidarity with France against terror — but then shrugged that the criticisms of America’s high-ranking absence from the massive rally in that city’s streets was little more than “quibbling,” he said.
“I will be traveling there on Thursday and be there part of Friday,” he said at a news conference from Ahmedabad, India, The New York Times reported.
But when asked why the United States didn’t send a representative to stand along with leaders of 40 other nations — including Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — Mr. Kerry sounded dismissive.
“The United States has been deeply engaged with France from the moment this horrific event took place,” Mr. Kerry said, The New York Times reported. “And I really think, you know, this is sort of quibbling a little bit.”
He also said pointed to the participation of Victoria Nuland, the senior State Department official for Europe, in the march, The New York Times said.
“The president and our administration have been coordinating very, very closely with the French on FBI matters, intel, law enforcement, across the board,” he told the newspaper. “For the United States, that relationship is a constant and it is ongoing.”
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Mr. Kerry is supposed to meet with Laurent Fabius, his French counterpart, on Friday.
Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris at the time of the march, but he attended an international meeting of law enforcement agents and skipped the rally.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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