State Department Won’t Answer Whether U.S. Pressed Countries To Deny Passage To Morales’ Flight

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At a briefing Wednesday State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to comment on whether the U.S. government pressed countries to block passage of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane. 

The Bolivian government said France, Portugal, and Italy revoked permission for Morales’ plane to pass through their airspace after he visited Moscow. Officials from those nations all said the flight was allowed to pass through their territory. According to Austrian officials, Morales allowed the plane to be searched while it was in Vienna. Psaki repeatedly directed reporters to speak to the individual countries involved. 

“I would point you to all of these individual countries to describe to you what happened and why various decisions were made,” she said. 

Psaki also declined to discuss whether the U.S. government believed Snowden may have been on Morales’ plane. She said she was “not aware” of any information authorities had, but added it is “not something that I would get into even if I did know.” 

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