White Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is refusing to answer allegations that a member of the Obama administration attempted to bribe Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak from running for office. ABC’s Jake Tapper tried on Thursday to get to the bottom of Sestak’s claim that the White House tried to bribe him out of running for the Senate, but was shot down by Gibbs:
Gibbs: Jake, I don’t have anything to add to what I said in March.
Tapper: But you never — you never really explained what the conversation was.
Gibbs: Then I don’t have anything to add today.
Tapper: But if the White House offers a congressman a position in the administration in order to convince that congressman to not run for office —
Gibbs: Jake, I don’t have anything to add to that.
Ad infinitum.
Sestak first claimed on Larry Kane’s radio show in February that Obama had offered him a bribe in July 2009. He said it again in March on Morning Joe:
Sestak made the claim yet again on CNN Wednesday, this after a cheesy photo-op with the president in the wake of Tuesday’s primary victory over Arlen Specter. The claim boils down to this: The White House offered him a position (some have speculated secretary of the Navy), if he would rescind his Senate candidacy. “I’ve said I was offered something,” said on CNN. “I don’t have to go beyond that. I don’t think it helps anybody.”
Robert Gibbs, apparently, has absolutely no interest in investigating the claim.