Last February Representative Joe Sestak, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, told a local cable news host that the Obama White House had offered him a high-ranking federal job if he would drop his challenge for the Senate seat occupied by the recently converted Democrat, Arlen Specter. Now that he's the nominee, he's not talking anymore.
On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, David Gregory had to put the question to Mr. Sestak four times before he would even repeat his February assertion. The candidate still refuses to say who allegedly made the offer or what the job in question was. That, he told Mr. Gregory, "is for others to talk about."
Those others are even more evasive. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the same day that "lawyers in the White House and others have looked into conversations that were had with Congressman Sestak, and nothing inappropriate happened." Senior adviser David Axelrod added on Monday that "when the allegations were made, they were looked into, and there was no evidence of such a thing."
Mr. Axelrod said that offering a job in exchange for Mr. Sestak's withdrawal would "constitute a serious breach of the law." But he and Mr. Gibbs, speaking in the passive voice about unidentified people, have not disclosed who held the purportedly innocent conversations with Mr. Sestak, what was said during those talks, or who made the determination that it was not untoward. Imagine if Karl Rove or Alberto Gonzales tried that one.
Meanwhile, FOX News reports that the White House job offer could be an impeachable offense.
Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that the White House offered him a job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary race against Arlen Specter is a crime that could lead to the impeachment of President Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa said.
But the decision by the Pennsylvania congressman not to elaborate on a so-called deal also could become a political problem as Sestak tries for the U.S. Senate seat.
It's hard to imagine how this is going to quietly go away. Sestak can't turn around and say there really wasn't any job offer, after all. Whoever runs against Sestak will pound this issue day in and day out, and the damage will hit both Sestak and Obama.
Update: Pat Toomey is the Republican "whoever runs against Sestak" I mentioned above, and he's been talking the issue up. He appeared on Hannity last night.
HANNITY: All right, if, in fact, what Sestak is saying is true, and they offered him a job...
TOOMEY: Right.
HANNITY: ... a high-ranking job to get out of this primary, you know, what's your — you've been reading all about it.
TOOMEY: Yes.
HANNITY: I'm sure you're following it more closely than anybody. Do you see any legal issues?
TOOMEY: Yes. It seems to me if it actually transpired that way, there's a federal statute that forbids offering a job in return for political favors.
HANNITY: Yes. All right, now, Eric Holder is actually saying no special counsel.
TOOMEY: Well, you know, it — they're making it hard to get to the bottom of this, aren't they.
HANNITY: Well, they're refusing to appoint a special counsel. Darrell Issa is asking for one in this particular case. Do you think, at some point they're going to have to come clean, or does Robert Gibbs get to do his dance for another, you know, five months?
TOOMEY: You know, I think it's looking increasingly like there's something that they're trying to hide. And if they would come clean on this, I think we all would be better off. And so hopefully, that's what will happen, but I'm not sure what it'll take, Sean.
HANNITY: All right, we — we're going to get into the actual legal aspect of this. Do you think it would be possible — and I guess this is speculation on your part — that a high-ranking member of the Obama administration would be able to make an offer for a high-profile job to get Sestak out of the race without the president's approval? Is that possible?
TOOMEY: You know, it's a good question. I don't know. I don't know how they're operating within the White House. I don't know what sort of chain of command they're following. You know, I don't know, but it's a legitimate question.
HANNITY: Are we getting to the point — what did the president know and when did he know it?
This issue isn't going away until the White House can come up with a fall guy. Are they going to call Sestak a liar? That wouldn't be wise. Sestak might become a bit less reticent. So I wonder who's going to get thrown under the bus? Somebody had a conversation with Sestak.
