Clinton denies WH story he tried to get Sestak out of Senate race
Former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday in Scranton that he did not try to entice Rep. Joe Sestak out of the Democratic Senate primary, in contradiction to a White House report and Sestak's own account.
Clinton denies WH story he tried to get Sestak out of Senate race
It’s been the story that won’t die in Pennsylvania’s Senate race: clumsy attempts by the White House to push Rep. Joe Sestak out of the Democratic primary in favor of incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter.
The furor seemed to die down after both White House officials and Sestak said May 28 that former President Bill Clinton had called Sestak at the request of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and dangled before the congressman the possibility of a position on a presidential advisory board on national security if he stayed in the House.
But now, Clinton is denying that he tried to get Sestak out of the race, and the Internet and Fox News are abuzz with the notion that somebody must have been lying when the White House counsel’s office released its report on the job offer.
“I didn’t try to get him out of the race,” Clinton told a reporter for WBRE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Scranton, who shouted questions as the former president shook hands in a crowd Tuesday. “In fact, I wasn’t even accused of that,” Clinton said.
Sestak shrugged it off Thursday, saying Clinton was merely an emissary.
“President Clinton was carrying a message,” said Sestak, after speaking to diners at a Harrisburg barbeque restaurant about his plan for small businesses. “It was no secret Washington wanted me out of the race.”
In May, Sestak’s account was different. He said that Clinton expressed concern about his chances in a Senate primary, argued that his military background (Sestak is a retired Navy admiral) was an asset to the House, and offered the possibility of a presidential appointment to the influential advisory board.
Sestak kicked off the whole “-gate” in February, acknowledging that he had been offered a role by the White House to forego a challenge to Specter. He would not provide details and refused to for more than three months, until questions reached a crescendo after the May 18 primary victory.
“Clearly, Joe Sestak, the White House, and President Clinton do not have all of their talking points straight on this story," said Nachama Soloveichik, spokeswoman for Sestak's Republican opponent, Pat Toomey. "It would be helpful to everyone if Joe Sestak would finally come clean on exactly what happened," she said.
Republicans in Congress continue to call for investigations into whether the White House acted illegally.
Comments (19)
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON states that he did not do what the Obama administration has accused him of! Is Obama lying? (HTML deleted)— M_Miles- workin, I think Christine's and june's point is that Sestak HIMSELF created this brouhaha by "leaking" the offer to Larry Kane. (And I don't believe for a nanosecond that it was inadvertent. The ADM is a very smart and careful guy.) Now he's taking heat for not coming clean. Point is his little gambit to look like a D.C. "outsider" (a ridiculous ploy for a 2 term Rep to begin with) has backfired on him. He's too clever by half on this one.— pj katauskas
- Since the Monica thing ("I did not have sex with that woman!"), I haven't believed a word Clinton has said. Hi, Christine! Missed not having a column by you today. Enjoy the time off.— pj katauskas
- Sestak, Clinton, both liars, both politicians, both Democrats. No shock there. Somebody mentioned why is this bad if its been going on for years? Its because Obama's main campaign was "hope and change" with a transparent government. Its apparent that's a lie. Just how transparent was Obamacare? How much hope do the millions of unemployed have? How much change have we seen in government? Very little across the board.— psyrus
- President Clinton would never tell a lie, would he? Didn't he throw a silver dollar across the Potomac? And that Kucinich kid chopped down the cherry tree.— Delaware Jim
Bill Clinton telling the truth?- Say, could we get an attribution for the quote that is the next-to-last paragraph? Surely *somebody* said it, and I'm guessing it wasn't either Sestak or Clinton unless one of them is now referring to themselves in the third person. Or are the quotation marks a typo?— MaggieL
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LoL....just like he denied "inhaling"!!!- what's sestak lying about? he's the one who brought it up to begin with. while that's politically stupid for him cuz it's created all this nonsense, it has nothing to do with him lying or denying. He doesn't need to say anything, it's the whitehouse that made the offer, they should clear the air, but sestak isn't denying or lying about that-in may he said they offered him a job and today he said the whitehouse wanted him out of the race--those things are true. just cuz in may his account was different, doesn't mean it's a lie. Go back and read the story christine and junethe4th.— workinwestphilly
- And the irony of all this: There was no election law broken. If parties were restricted from offering NON ELECTED positions to members considering a run for office, the party would drain it's own resources in primary battles before the general election. This is a well known common practice within both parties. It's been going on since the country began. Back in the 80s there were articles written about offers Reagan made to candidates for office when he was President without any mention of the illegality of such a move. ...I can't imagine why it's become a big deal now? I mean, what's changed?— MacMike
- Sestak will lose the seat for the Dems. Had Specter won the primary I bet he could have beaten Toomey since he is much more moderate and would have done better with moderate Republicans. The White House must have realized this.— fischman
- Way too balanced of an article. And these 2 work at the Inquirer? Did they miss the memo today, or are they trying to get fired?— Fred Berry
WTH is the give away slush fund? Rethug can't even get talkin' points straight.- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- The lies keep piling up. This should be interesting. A man who left his honor code at the door after checking into the Beltway and other men who could not spell honor. Politics, must be low-life to compete.— junethe4th
- This is what we'll get if we elect my congressman to the senate in the fall...obfuscation and denials.— Christine
- Typical Republican nonsense. With all of the issues to deal with today, this what we get from them and their frinds at Fixed News. Could you at least identify who the right wing talking points quote is from at the bottom of this non news story.— JLH
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Commonwealth Confidential gives you regularly updated coverage of the state legislature, the governor and the workings of the state bureaucracy. It is written by Angela Couloumbis and Amy Worden in the Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau, based right in the statehouse, and by the newspaper's far-flung campaign reporters.
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