“Everybody there had one question: that crazy statement you made, are you going to withdraw it?” said Roel Geeraedts, a political reporter at the Dutch television station RTL Nieuws in a phone interview about the event. “We were not getting answers, so we all kept asking it.”
After at least one person had already asked the question, Geeraedts followed up to ask Hoekstra about a John Adams quote — Adams was the United States’ first ambassador to Holland — that was mounted right behind the ambassador. Hoekstra said he had read the quote, which expresses Adams's hope that only “honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
“If you’re truly an honest and wise man, could you please take back the remark about burned politicians or name the politician that was burned in the Netherlands?” Geeraedts asked.
An uncomfortable silence followed the question.
“Thank you,” Hoekstra said, before trying to call on someone else over the clamor of the reporters in the room.
“Excuse me, I asked you a question,” Geeraedts said.
Another journalist jumped in.
“Mr. Ambassador, can you mention any example of a Dutch politician who was burned in recent years?”
Again, silence, as Hoekstra stared around the room.
“This is the Netherlands, you have to answer questions,” another reporter said.
Sherry Keneson-Hall, an embassy counselor who was helping run the news conference, pushed back, asserting that Hoekstra was answering the questions.
At least one more journalist fired the question off. Reporters had asked the question at least five times.
“We were all astonished that he didn’t want to take back the comment. It was simply untrue, so why not take it back?” Geeraedts said. “It was awkward, to be honest.”