A day after two Biden administration spokespeople took exception to reporters pressing for evidence about U.S. claims regarding activities in Syria and Russia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted she welcomes tough questions from the media.

The State Department said Thursday that the U.S. has obtained intelligence that Russia developed a plan to release a graphic propaganda video depicting an attack by the the Ukrainian military or intelligence forces as a pretext to invade Ukraine.

Earlier Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that U.S. special forces carried out a counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria that left Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi dead. Biden said al-Qurayshi died by detonating a bomb that killed himself, along with members of his family, including women and children. Thirteen people in all were killed in the raid, U.S. officials said.

In a news briefing Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price and Associated Press reporter Matt Lee got into a heated exchange when Lee repeatedly asked Price to provide proof to back up his allegations about Russia’s video plot.

“What is the evidence — I mean, this is, like, ‘crisis actors’? Really?” Lee asked Price. “This is like Alex Jones territory you're getting into. What evidence do you have to support the idea that there is some propaganda film in the making?”

Price answered by saying when the State Department makes intelligence public, “we do so in a way that protects sensitive sources and methods.”

He then added: “If you doubt the credibility of the U.S. government, of the British government, of other governments and want to find solace in information that the Russians are putting out, that is for you to do.”

During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Thursday, a reporter asked Psaki if the Biden administration will provide evidence that the civilians in Syria were indeed killed by al-Qurayshi’s suicide bomb. The reporter added that some people might be skeptical about the U.S. government’s account about the civilian deaths. 

“Skeptical of the U.S. military's assessment when they went and took out … the leader of ISIS?” Psaki responded. “That they are not providing accurate information and ISIS is providing accurate information?”

The reporter said she was not implying that people trusted the Islamic State’s word over the United States.

On Friday, Psaki was asked if she really believes journalists are repeating Russian and Islamic State propaganda. 

“We welcome tough questions and good-faith scrutiny,” she said. “Otherwise, I wouldn't come out here. I wouldn't have come out here almost 180 times and engaged with all of you and your tough questions and good-faith scrutiny.”

Psaki said Thursday and again Friday that Biden took steps to minimize civilian casualties in Syria — most notably ordering a ground raid instead of an air strike. She added that the Defense Department is conducting a standard review of the mission and vowed to release the findings once it is complete.

In a tweet Thursday, Price said he called Lee after their exchange and told him he has “nothing but respect for him.”

“The renowned @APDiploWriter and I have had our fair share of sparring sessions, and I have the scars to prove it,” Price wrote. “Clearly, he’s no one’s dupe, and I’d never want to suggest otherwise.”

On the Russia allegations, Psaki reiterated there are limitations about how much information the U.S. can release because it must protect intelligence sources and methods.

“Of course, we would prefer to make as much underlying information available as we can,” she said. “And in fact, what we conveyed yesterday and was conveyed by my colleagues at the Defense Department (and) State Department is a result of declassifying information.”

Psaki said the Biden administration chose to make the intelligence public because it hopes to “deny Russia the opportunity to use these lies to justify an invasion of Ukraine, and to convey clearly these are actions we're seeing that are straight out of their playbook. We've seen them run false-flag operations in the past and use confusion to launch military action many times in history.”

She listed several examples.. Among them: the Kremlin claimed in 2018 that the U.S. appeared to be running a clandestine biological weapons lab in the country of Georgia to justify their efforts to destabilize Georgia’s government and that during Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, Russian state TV reported that Ukrainian forces had crucified a 3-year-old boy.