Sestak couldn’t have taken reported intel post, former Bush AG says no crime likely occured

The White House admitted Friday that it used former President Bill Clinton to determine whether Representative Joe Sestak would drop out of the contentious Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary race with Sen. Arlen Specter in return for an unpaid position in the administration.

The only problem: Sestak, as a sitting member of Congress,  was never even eligible to accept the advisory post.

Speaking on the Capitol steps yesterday afternoon, Sestak said that he “heard the words ‘presidential board’” during his brief conversation with Clinton. “It was about either intelligence or defense.” (WATCH SESTAK’S INFORMAL Q&A SESSION WITH THE PRESS)

But numerous sources have pointed out that Sestak would have been ineligible to serve on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. According to the Board’s official Web site:

The Board consists of not more than 16 members appointed by the President from among individuals who are not employed by the Federal Government. Members are distinguished citizens selected from the national security, political, academic, and private sectors.

Asks Byron York:

Did the White House not know that?  The apparent contradiction is sure to create more questions from Republicans who want an independent investigation of the affair.  Why would the White House — normally pretty careful in such matters — offer Sestak a job he couldn’t take?

Some have questioned whether Sestak hinted inaccurately that the White House offered him a high-level job only to win over voters as an outsider candidate.

Federal law prohibits promising “any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or any other benefit…as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office.”

But Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Fox News yesterday that calling the White House’s job offer illegal is “highly questionable.”