In a State Department briefing on Monday, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said there was a "preponderance of evidence" pointing to the fact that militia in eastern Ukraine downed flight MH17. Harf said the US government's suspicions were based on information gathered from social media sites.
"We saw in social media afterwards, we saw videos, we saw photos of the pro-Russian separatists bragging about shooting down an aircraft," she told assembled press.
When asked whether she could back up the claims with any other evidence, Harf said there is "a host of information" the US had gathered about who did this. However, Harf said the American government is limited to the information that it is allowed to share.
"Sometimes you can't get into all the specifics," she said. "Based on open information which is basically common sense, right - we know where it was fired from, we know who has this weapon."
According to Harf, the Obama administration is attempting to put out as much information as possible that underlies their assessment of the information. The deputy speaker also discouraged people from believing the Russian government's version of events because it has a history of "misinformation and propaganda" in the Ukrainian conflict.
Comment: Ha! So far, the U.S. hasn't released any information. Russia, on the other hand, backs up its claims.
Comment: Harf should be flipping burgers for a living. So the only evidence the U.S. has is from social media, faulty common sense, and fake secret intelligence? The U.S. State Department is a joke.