WH Silent On Nord Stream During Foreign Probes

With three countries all investigating the explosion that ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines that linked Germany and Russia, the White House on Wednesday refused to comment on the probes while they are still ongoing.

Responding to Newsmax's question about National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's comment last fall that he believed the explosion was "an act of sabotage" and that he supported an investigation, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby replied that, "there are three national investigations now into the Nord Stream 2 explosion by three of our allies."

"We are not going to get ahead of that work. It is ongoing," he added.

"We still believe it was an act of sabotage," Kirby continued, and—in a thinly-disguised jab at veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh's claim that the U.S. executed the explosion that hit Nord Stream, he flatly told reporters at the White House: "The U.S. was not involved in any way, contrary to some press reporting out there."

The NSC's top spokesman would not say when he expected the investigations by the three U.S. allies to be completed. In his words, "I don't know of any timeline. You'd have to go to their independent investigative agencies."

But, he emphasized, "we need to let the work of these investigators go on, and it needs to go on unimpeded and without any influence or pressure from anybody else."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.