President Obama delivered a statement on Iraq from the South Lawn of the White House shortly before noon. The broadcast and cable networks all provided live coverage of his remarks on the increased violence in the region.
On NBC, David Gregory anchored from Washington with Peter Alexander at the White House and Richard Engel in Iraq. David Muir anchored for ABC, joined by Terry Moran in Northern Iraq. CBS’ special report was anchored by Scott Pelley in New York with Major Garrett at the White House.
As for the cable networks: Wolf Blitzer anchored on CNN, with Arwa Damon in Iraq. Eric Shawn and Uma Pemmaraju anchored on Fox News, joined by “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier from Washington. On MSNBC, Tamron Hall anchored with Chuck Todd contributing.
Obama said he is weighing the options for U.S. military support in Iraq, but ruled out using ground forces in the conflict. “We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options,” he said.