Washington (CNN) - House Republicans are demanding the White House turn over internal documents related to its efforts last year to persuade Rep. Joe Sestak to stay out of a Democratic primary battle in Pennsylvania with Sen. Arlen Specter, in exchange for a government job.
Unhappy with the White House explanation of the matter, Reps. Darrell Issa of California and Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter Wednesday to White House Counsel Robert Bauer requesting "All records and documents created by or produced to the Office of the White House Counsel in the course of the investigation..."
Last Friday, Bauer released a memorandum revealing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had enlisted the help of former President Bill Clinton to offer to Sestak an unpaid position on a Presidential advisory board. Bauer concluded "allegations of improper conduct rest on factual errors and lack a basis in the law."
Issa and Smith, in their letter, disagreed.
"Even if we suspend our disbelief that the White House asked a former U.S. President to call on a Member of Congress to offer a mere unpaid advisory position in exchange for dropping out of a Senate race, the facts alleged in the Sestak Memorandum still appear to violate several sections of the United States Code," wrote the Republican congressmen.
The White House memorandum, they said, "appears to catalog a violation of the federal criminal code, the tampering of evidence, witness tampering and evasion of the legal process."
The letter also asks for transcripts of interviews on the subject with Emanuel, Clinton, and Sestak and gives the White House until June 9 to turn over the material.
Since the Republicans are in the minority in both houses of Congress, they don't have the power to force the White House to turn over the documents requested.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Tuesday told reporters who pressed for more information on the White House explanation, "I'd refer you to the memo."
From CNN Politics
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The Whitehouse just told the GOP were to find them !!!!
Let them demand all they want and give them a morsel to chew on for a couple of days. There are many items that the democrats could and should be demanding from the last administration.
Repubs. also need to re-examine who killed Vince Foster; OR, if they really want to investigate something, why not finding out how Cheney & Chalabi got us to topple Saddam.
What goes around comes around.
When the GOP regains the majority in 2012 (or perhaps even in 2010), they will force documents to be released, exposing the corruption in this administration just as they continue to do with the previous one.
When all is clear for us to see, it will be obvious that Obama's worst dream comes true – we all find out that he is EXACTLY like the previous administration, the one thing he's tried to champion otherwise.
Where is the promised transparency?
They should demand that Sarah Palin return the $150,000 in designer clothes she promised she would....
If nothing happened and it wasn't against the rules or the law then why wont the White house give up any information?
this looks like a stall on their part to cover this up, bad choice on their part.
Rahm might have to be the one who goes down for this to cover Odumbo's butt.
Nice try repugs but there is no smoking gun. Its not like Democrats are fabricating info so we can start a war or something
One thing about all politicians is they cannot keep their big mouths shut. I'm a Democrat but if the White House has documents, they should turn them over to clear the air and if they violated a law they should pay the price for it. Wrong is wrong regardless if you are Republican or Democrat.
Republicans demand White House docs on Sestak
-------------------------------–
"JUST AS SOON AS WE PRINT UP A NEW SET, YOU"LL GET THEM!"
That's what I'd say to those "demading" blithering idiots.
Demand, indeed!
And at the same time Pawlenty can produce the transcripts of his conversations with Rove and Cheney when they called him and told him to not run against Norm Coleman in 2002. Cheney was VP at the time so it would be interesting to know what he was offered. It only seems fair that both sides tell the truth on these two identical situations.
Can we investigate George W. Bush and Karl Rove for the same thing then?
Seriously? why are we making this an issue, this is common practice in business and politics and has been for a long time.
oh my god, why can't the moran republicans let this non-issue go?
it would be nice if they showed this much passion in helping our president clean up some of the mess these lame ducks made for the past eight years. republicans are sinking in there own slime,i can't wait till nov. to get rid of the do-nothings that have taken a pay-check without earning a dime of it for the last two years.
Yawn. republicans, who have done absolutely nothing constructive in the past 1 1/2 years, finally have a cause. A stupid one, but hey, Republicans love to investigate Democratic Presidents, don't they?
Get the Attorney General of PA involved--a Republican.
He can demand documents and open an investigation.
I guess this would be a good time for the Obama Administration to assert some of that good old Bush Era Executive Privilege.
These two GOP reps sound like they are brothers in the C Street den of Republican playgrounds. Texas and California are the states with the biggest blowhards in the house of representatives. They approved the killing of 4000 thousand american kids and wounding 20000 more. they want to forget that part of their administration and want to look for anything to get the countries mind off what they did. LIVE WITH IT MURDERERS. Wonder how much service these two have seen or been in. Cowards will try anything to change the subject of their past behavior in the CHENEY/BUSH ADMIN. now they have the oil deal that they will have to try and cover up.
Do it. Give them everything they want to waste time with.
Go ahead and dig out the transcripts from Cheneys energy summit too. What's that? They don't exist?
How about White House emails from 2000-2008? What? They're lost?
Another Fox Opinion Channel led witch hunt.
It's been done in the past, no laws were broken, he didn't accept the offer, get over it.
The Republicans are back ragging about this again to try to distract us from their lastest financial scandel.
The arrest of Jim Greer is headline news and they want it off the front page. I don't think 6 felony counts will go away any time soon.
If the republicans keep screwing around with this, the Justice Department will be justified into looking into Cheney's connection to getting Pawlenty to drop out of a race, AFTER HE HAD REGISTERED TO RUN, in favor of Norm Coleman. That is more of a felony than asking a person if they THOUGHT THEY MIGHT DO BETTER IN THE JOB THEY WERE IN. Nothing in the Sestak thing, but a heck of lot in Cheney's. And a special prosecutor to investigate a nothing, will have something to do in investigating a something.
Remember Sestak had not registered to run, Pawlenty had.
We'll probably have to wait until November for justice. Just typing the words obama and impeach in the same sentence gives me thrills up my leg!
Just like watergate it won't be the crime that brings obummer down, it will be the cover up!
Hopefully it will happen quickly before he finishes destroying our country.
Please. What parts of legal, unpaid, and Sestak not accepting are not understood here? More righteous indignation...
Will the good GOP congresspersons also be opening an investigation into President Bush's cronyism and President Reagan's similar deal to Sen. SI Hayakawa??
Oh, that's right >> IOKIYAR. It's OK If You're A Republican
Good, good, good, the liar in chief CAN'T be allowed to get away with this (He did it in Colorado as well..........).
A former president was brought in to ask a sitting Congressmen to step out of a Senate race and the bait was a NON-PAYING advisory board that it turns out (thanks to Bill Clinton's admin) he WAS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR in the first place?
Sestak has said many times it was a JOB or do we now have to "speak Clintoneese" in descibing what a job is?
This is a massive coverup and anyone who is not a liberal sheep knows it, the media wants it to go away to protect Oweblamo, but NOT anymore.
THIS will be Oweblamo's Waterloo.
I'm sorry Mr. Issa but Mr. Bauer does not work for you and you have no right to "DEMAND" anything.
One of the reasons our Government doesn't get anything done is because we have people like Bauet boughed down repeating the same work over and over and over.
This is just like the Republican's fixation with Roe vs Wade which the Supreme Court decided in 1973[?] GOP'ers have a criminal modus operandi of incessantly pestering hard working governement employees to keep revisiting settled scenarios.
We know he doesn't like the determination but Mr. Issa doesn't get to check behind Mr. Bauer's work. I'd like to see Mr. Issa do something aligned with his constiuents. That's what he was sent to Washington for.
This is typical politics. I'm a democrat, but I too would like to know if anything improper went on. At some point though, we wil reach a point to where it is time to move on, but the Republicans won't let this go because they are determined to ruin any liberal President.
Don't these pieces of dreck republicans have anything better to do? Oh yeah, given the fact that they have done nothing concrete since the 1800s when they were liberals, I guess they do have nothing better to do.
Seriously? Seriously? All the big challenges our country faces that Congress should be focusing on, the Republicans want to waste time, money, and energy "investigating" this?? It's called "politics" guys, and it goes on every day in both parties. Please, find something else to pretend to be incensed about. Better yet, focus on real issues!
I demand they indict Cheney. I give them until June 8th.
It's funny how the same people who used "National Security" as an excuse to do whatever they wanted without explaining anything to anyone are now all of a sudden self-proclaimed champions of transparency.
More deception and distraction from the party of "Hell NO I won't do my job". So now the GOPers are trying to create fear about something that is normal in politics and business? They are the most brazen hypocrites.
How could they not realize that 70% of the population (not fox followers) do have the capcity for rational thought??
Talk about trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. I had no idea the GOP had bottomed out like this.
Hey repugs! While you are at I want to see all the papers from the C Streeg Gang, including their pastor who is a Hitler wanna be.
Let's trade. I bet the WH has less on the Sestak silliness than you have on your repug low renters.
If offering a politician a job in Washington DC is a crime what says Issa about all of the republican Senators and Congressman who are promised campaign money or lobbyists jobs if they vote in favor of a particular corporation, say Goldman Sachs, BP, Halliburton... Shouldn't they go to jail too? Isn't this a bribe by Mr. Issas own "high legal and moral" standards?
Will Mr. Issa turn himself in for taking money from corporations and voting in their interests and not the interests of the people that elected him to office? Stay tuned.
We will investigate this if We can throw Cheney in jail for trampling the Constitution.
Darrell Issa needs to get a life and do some real work for a change. Who cares if Sestak was offered a job it was a primary election anyway.
How many Republican cronies were offered a job to go work for Dick Cheney's inner circle of shiesters?
Are there no house democrats that believe anything is wrong with the story that we have been told? If a few would show some courage and get away from being the part of yes to everything this president says and does we might get somewhere.
What did the Republicans say every time someone asked for Whitehouse records, emails, guest lists, etc....? Let them eat cake.
Our oceans, lakes and beaches are turning to oil before our very eyes and the Republicans are calling for an investigation on a man who said he was offered a job by a whitehouse representative? The process is called networking and job sharing, it is not against any law.
If the American people have any sense they should never allow the GOP near the White House. Because of their greed, we are one step closer to destorying the earth and all that dwell within.
Oh, for crying out loud!!!
When will you Rethuglicans stop with your CRAP and get down to helping the President solve the nation's problems?
Wow, with the economy, oil spill, financial regulation (or lack of it), poverty, unemployment, etc. to worry about Reps Issa and Smith find time to look for smoke where there is no fire. What exactly are these guys doing for their districts and the voters that elected them? Is this serving their district's interests or their masters in the republican party? If I was a voter in either of these two clown's districts I would be howling mad at waisting time on this fool's errand and not taking care of real business. These guys need to try doing what their voters elected them for and not grandstanding for the republican party.
And they will do good to verdicate Obama!!
This is the President we elected – a political operative using South Side Chicago strong arm political tactics; back room deals; savory appointments; secrecy; and all fronted by a slick talking community organizer who is way over his head.
Rrrrrrring!
WH: This is the White House
GOP: We demand to see all documents pertaining to the Sestak job
offer.
WH: Please hold.............................................................................
WH: Please continue to hold........................................................
@ Dave: I have no doubt that you were clamoring with the rest of the center-left folks to impeach Bush. Never really understood what for since he had Congressional authority to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, but this is a REAL offense. Shock! You don't want it investigated.
Tick, tick, tick. The countdown is on.
Trying to gin up a controversy I suppose? Have they all run to Fox News demanding an investigation? Is Bill O'Reilly doing a segment titled "The Truth about Obama and Sestak"? These Republicans are all idiots.
Darrell Issa is the genius behind the recall of California Governor Gray Davis, which he did in an attempt to secure the Governorship for himself. Then Arnold stepped in and Darrell cried, literally. The man is a complete tool.
What happened to the old smart Republican party, don't they realize that they are being punked be the White House.
The White House wants them to keep watching the shiny Sestak object while the White House launch their re-election campaign, because they want to portray Republicans as Britney Spears and the party of "HELL NO!".
As an Independent voter I am disappointed in the Republicans in Congress.
No one in the nation cares. This is just a game of "gotcha." Conservatives have no beliefs and no program to advance. Their entire argument is to sneer "our opponents are immoral." What a wonderful world this would be if trying to talk a guy out of a divisive primary was the worst thing that ever happened in politics.
No Republican cares about this. They are just running it up the flag pole to see if it waves. If it doesn't get any traction, they will try something else. I hear that Obama is forming Marine "death units" who will kill Louisiana fishermen who criticize the Obama Administration's handling of the oil leak. I also hear, from my confidential Republican sources, that it was Obama who arranged to have Michael Jackson snuffed so he could be the most popular Black man in the world. We'll be hearing about those scandals tomorrow, I'm sure.
The GOP, can go to hell!!!!! I'm so tired of them, it's pathetic.........I don't want to rush time, I appreciate each day, and I love the summer..........But November can't get here fast enough I'm taking my anger to the polls.
Hmmm, what will be the lead story on Faux News tonight, this, or the Greer indictment?
Yeah, thought so....
reagan and the war criminal bush did the same things, yawn. Now mabey Mr. Holder needs to check into those war crimes commited by bush and his lackeys.
A response to
South side Chicago politics – Obama style June 2nd, 2010 5:06 pm ET
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This is the president YOU elected TWICE: a first-class, world-renowned village idiot; who got us into an ILLEGAL war against a cooutnry that did nothing to us, under the false pretense of looking for WMD's. Hen proceeded to turn a huge budget surplus into an ECONOMIC CRASH of biblical proportions; he invaded and violated our personal freedoms under the guise of national security; he made us the butt of jokes around the world; people who knew they'd go to jail for it threw shoes at him; he prematurely AND erroneously declared a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED vis-a-vis Iraq. We're still there. He allowed his VP to torture our "enemies" and violate international treaties; he gave HIS OIL BUDDIES FREE REIGN here and abroad; we're still swimming inthat muck as I type......
I COULD go on.
Funny you dems don't care about corruption, I thought Obama was going to bring change to DC, well now you know what kind of change, same old, same old, jokes going to be on you in Nov.
I would like to know what behind closed doors maneuvering the GOP did a few years ago to persuade my then senator, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, to switch to their party back when they were in control of the senate.
Campbell went from voting with the then minority Democrats 87% of the time to voting with the then majority Republicans 86% of the time after he switched parties -and suddenly had some new, much more power committee assignments.
I have absolutely doubt that what transpired between the GOP and Campbell was not on the up and up – and certainly wasn't in the best interests of the people who elected Campbell in the first place.
The point? I don't doubt that the democrats offered Sestak what amounts to a bribe to stay out of the primary race. In order to be competitiv, they've had to learn to play just as dirty as the republicans always have.
Obama is the 21st Century Richard Nixon, without the competence and experience.
They should also investigate if Greenpeace had anything to do with the disaster in the Gulf, as that happened just days before Obummer was to give his "posïtion" on energy.
If hey have nothing to hide just show the people and let's get on with it.
Nothing should get released. this is a national security issue! how's that feel you losers.
and nothing should get released until the minutes are released from cheney's oil meeting that we have been waiting for.
Why cant' the GOP focus on the country?!? Why do they spend so much time on investigations???
To the GOP: Put a sock in it; your party is worst than the Tea Baggers.
Okay, let the Democrats learn how much money Cheney earned when his favorite company had the sole source contract. If they Repubs make anything out of this, I hope the Democrats NEVER hold back in attacking the way that party operates.
I am not sure what GOPers really want. Are they wise?
Do they want President Obama or Vice-President Biden? Or even Speaker Pelosi?
Biden or Pelosi will be putting most of them in jail because some of them really have criminal issues.
For me, President Obama has been too nice to them; always naively begging them to deal with him, making his legislations very weak just to please them. Even defending the tea party against President Carter attack.
Despite all his political sacrifices, they still hate him, trying desperately to create unexisting issues just to destroy him. In this case, President Obama has the right to offer job to anyone he wants
I think GOPers should have been praying GOD because it happens that they have Obama instead of Dennis J. Kucinich, Joh Edwards, or even Hillary Cliton.
BTW, President Obama has the right to offer job to anyone he wants.
alot of republicans are on here talking out of their ...... it's okay to invoke executive privelidge when a republican is in the white house, but if it's a democrat.....
phoenix86 when you talk like that you disrespect yourself and the trailerpark you live in
Who the heck cares? This is just another ploy by the republicans to try and make a mountain out of a molehill. You know, the republicans really need to figure out what the heck they really stand for because right now, the party looks like a bunch of angry, grumpy, old, outdated and clueless men. All they do is complain, complain and complain some more. Republicans have been in an attack mode every since the current administration instead of acting like adults and working with him. Even the policies they once agreed upon, if the president agrees, GOPs flip flop and disagree. Take McCain who campaigned on being the "Maverick" but now denies it. He was once for immigration and now wants to build a border fence. The GOP is like a surfer waiting for the largest wave to ride. Unfortunately, for them, the tea party is the biggest wave and they are riding it to see how far it will take them. No matter what the republicans think about the president, at least he has ideas and is trying to implementing them in spite of all the adversity from the right. People want to see action and this requires a functional government and right now the republicans are extremely dysfunctional.