When it comes to the continuing Sestak scandal, the White House is up to their eyeballs in a cover-up. Major Garrett, Fox News' chief White House correspondent flat-out asked the president to come clean at his press conference yesterday. He asked what did the White House know, when did they know it and who participated in conversations with regard to Congressman Sestak being offered a job in exchange for him agreeing not to challenge Senator Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's primary.
The president refused to answer Major’s question and instead promised that the White House would have a response soon.
The president knew full well that the strategy was to release the shocking revelation that former President Clinton spoke with Congressman Sestak on the Friday of the long Memorial Day weekend and at a time he knew that the media would be focused almost exclusively on his trip to the Gulf for the BP oil spill disaster. The president himself is now participating in a cover up. It has long been the practice of presidential administrations to release damaging news on a weekend or better yet a holiday weekend when the public's attention is elsewhere, hoping that the bad news would pass without major exposure.
The Sestak story -- like most scandals -- gets worse everyday with the dribs and drabs of information. The bombshell that a former president, who himself was steeped in scandal and was impeached for lying, would be called upon to strong arm a Democratic Congressman into not running in a primary is outrageous. President Clinton is also a lawyer and should have known better.
The fact is that Rep. Sestak alleges that a “White House official” spoke to him at the White House. Well, President Clinton may be acting as a surrogate in this matter but, he certainly is NOT a White House official. Who asked Mr. Clinton to speak to Congressman Sestak? Was it the president's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel? Did Mr. Sestak meet with a White House staff member? Who was that person?
It is also very suspicious that President Clinton would have a “private” lunch with President Obama yesterday, just before today's announcement. Surely those two are “circling the wagons” to get their stories straight. Bill Clinton lied before with regard to scandal and he is likely to do it again.
This story is not going away. The American people want answers. It is only a matter of time when the truth will come out.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to the Fox Forum.
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