As insurgent hostilities continue in Yemen, White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett insisted this morning that President Obama is personally engaged with the situation on the ground and is in close contact with the men and women in the U.S. embassy there.
In an interview with CNN this morning, Jarrett described the president as “very concerned” about the station in Yemen, but that he had not yet made the decision to evacuate the embassy.
“Having a presence there is very important,” she said acknowledging the risks to the people who served in all U.S. embassies.
Jarrett insisted that the president was closely involved with monitoring what she called a “delicate balance” in the country.
“The president, as I said, is personally monitoring the situation very closely and the State Department is in absolutely continuous contact with our folks on the ground,” Jarrett said. She agreed with the CNN host that “obviously” no one wanted a repeat of the situation in Benghazi.
“As I said at the outset, nothing is more important to the president than the safety of the American people,” she said.
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