Posted on 05/28/2010 8:48:41 AM PDT by jazusamo
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel enlisted former President Bill Clinton to persuade Rep. Joe Sestak not to run in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary but nothing improper occurred, the White House counsel said in a memo issued Friday.
According to the memo, written by White House counsel Robert Bauer, Clinton asked Sestak if he wanted to take on an unpaid, advisory role with the White House and encourage him not to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter, who had switched the Democratic party last year.
The rebuttal represents the first substantive comments from the White House on the controversy. Dozens of Republicans — including former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and all of the GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — have pressed for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the White House job offer.
The full memo is embedded below.
Yep, but the tricky bit is that they are all easily refuted and shown to be false.
It looks that way to me also but I know nothing of legalese, I hope there’s not a loophole in there.
[OMG!!! WHO WOULD BELIEVE THIS CRAP???]
Well, it is a respoonse guaranteed to keep this alive till the election.
The call to Sestak’s brother yesterday was no doubt to make the point that if Sestak refutes this explanation, he will get zip, zero, nada support from the WH in his Senate bid. It was also made clear that if he refuted the explanation, his political career in the Democrat Party would be finished.
So Sestak has a bitter pill to swallow. I don’t know if he can do it. He’s a loose cannon and also fancies himself an honorable and honest man.
Someone on Fox said last night that Obama would much rather surrender this Senate seat to the GOP than put his administration at risk. Sestak’s now officially under the bus.
Sestak made it to the rank of vice-admiral. You don’t make it that far without having an honest conscience. I believe if he is put under oath, he will either tell the truth or plead the 5th.
The problem for the White House now is that Sestak doesn’t have to say a word.
The memo that they released clearly states that Rahm Emanual indirectly offered him a position paid for with Federal funds in order to drop out of a primary race.
This is an open and shut case in the language of Title 18.I.29.600
Why or how could he plead the 5th? Being offered a bribe is not a crime.
He may want that confirmed in writing.
What is the time frame in regards to Rahm being involved in both the Blago Senate seat for sale and the Sestak Sec. of Navy position?
Did Rahm set up this bribe even after he was implicated in the Blago Senate seat for sale?
That still doesn’t stop the talking heads from using them anyway. The just put that stupid brainwashed grin on their faces and spin away.
“If it was an “unpaid, advisory role” it would be a “position” in the administration.”
The law states: Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit,
Even if they could somehow fast-talk their way out of an advisory role being a “position,” all of the advisory committees being discussed certainly entailed APPOINTMENT by the president to serve on them.
I fear, however, we are in Clinton impeachment territory. In that case, HE really did lie before a federal grand jury, but the Senate didn’t view this as an impeachable offense. In the Sestak case, Obama is much less directly implicated and there is no tape of him committing any actual crime. As many have noted, they thought this was how politics worked anyway, so while it’s a technical violation of the law, it doesn’t fundamentally violate the “rules of the game.” In contrast, no one could defend lying before a grand jury, especially by a lawyer; it was so egregious an offense that Clinton lost his law license over it even though he hadn’t been convicted of any crime.
For all these reasons, the likelihood of this resulting in the impeachment and removal of Obama from office seem mighty slim, especially given that every Senator who voted to convict would automatically be accused of racism.
misprison
It’s not misprision when he has stated for months what happened.
didn’t report to authorities
I’m pretty sure going on the national news and announcing what had happened is going to cover him for any accusations of misprision that would arise from the authorities that he was “supposed” to have gone to. Especially when those authorities are headed by the people who tried to bribe him in the first place.
OK, let me get this straight. Does this imply that one CANNOT hold an advisory position if one becomes a Senator? Only House members can advise? Doesn’t seem right.
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