WH spokesman Jay Carney faced new questioning about the damaging national security intelligence leaks that have rained from somewhere in the Obama administration over the past few months. Fox News’ Ed Henry leads the questioning, and at first Carney refuses to deny that the White House is the source of the leaks.
FOX NEWS’ ED HENRY: “Can you say flatly that nobody from the White House was involved in the national security leaks that are being investigated?”
CARNEY: “Well Ed as you know this is a matter being investigated by two experienced prosecutors. I can’t specifically speak about it. I can point you to the statements of the President, the statements I’ve made in the past about this, about the seriousness with which he takes this issue…”
The prosecutors answer to Eric Holder, so, that answer isn’t very convincing.
Don’t stop watching after that exchange. It gets better. Henry asks Carney if he can deny that anyone in the White House was involved in the leaks. Carney’s answer:
CARNEY: “Involved in which particular case are you talking about? I can tell you that the President takes this very seriously. We all take this very seriously. Again it is an insult and preposterous to suggest that this White House would leak information for political gain, classified information for political gain. That did not happen, that would not happen under this president.”
Do you see anywhere in that a flat denial that the leak came from the White House? I don’t. The “for political gain” is a weasel qualifier that speaks to the leaker’s intent.
At about the 2:12 mark, Carney goes into a lengthy thought pause. Then he decides to play the “You know, we killed bin Laden, right?” card.
CARNEY: “You know, a lot of this began as a focus on the operation that successfully removed Osama bin Laden from the battlefield. And, the fact of the matter is, the president spoke to a hundred million people about that operation. Its existence is well-known. And…the…”
Another, much longer, thought pause follows at about the 2:35 mark. Carney may have just realized that he put some focus back on Michael Vickers, who is known to have leaked the identities of SEAL Team 6 members to Hollywood movie producers. That is classified information, and thanks to Judicial Watch, we all know where it came from and for what purpose. That purpose was to make the president look good in a movie originally timed to hit just before the elections. In other words, Vickers’ leak of classified information was obviously political and it is neither an insult nor preposterous to say so. Whether Obama or anyone at the White House authorized Vickers’ leak is not yet known. Vickers remains in his job and, as far as is publicly known, unmolested by Eric Holder’s “experienced prosecutors.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member