Michele's Mendacity: National Security Edition
For nearly three years, national security leaks were few and far between. There were leaks from the White House, but most of them centered around domestic policy. Then John Boehner appointed Michele Bachmann to the House Select Committee on
Bachmann may have justified Boehner’s faith in her abilities, but he wasn’t always so confident. When he appointed her to the committee last December, he made a special point of sitting Bachmann down to warn her that she could not let national secrets slip.
Which is why I find it interesting that Bachmann is the surrogate who pointed the finger in a direction away from her. It is far more likely that she or one of her staff would leak information like this, knowing it would infuriate people and embarrass the White House. From a timing standpoint, the pieces easily point to Bachmann as the leaker in the room, not the administration.
Crickets from George, of course. For him, it was all about pinning Axelrod down and casting doubt on President Obama's denial Friday.
The rest of the transcript after the jump.
AXELROD: George, I think the authors of all of this work have said that the White House was not the source of this information. I can't say that there weren't leaks. There were obvious leaks, but they weren't from the White House.
Let me tell you something, I sat with the president for two years when I was in the White House. And you know, I don't think there was anything that weighed on him more heavily than these life or death decisions. He understands that when he commits people to missions that their lives are at stake, and the safety of Americans are at stake.
And the last thing that he would countenance or anybody around him would countenance are leaks that would jeopardize the security of Americans on these secret missions, and the success of those missions. So, you know, I think when he said on Friday that he said offended about it, he was speaking from that place.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're confident that this investigation is not going to show White House involvement?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes. The White House is opposed to -- and I think you know this, George, we have come under attack because we have been tougher on leaks than any administration in recent history. And we have been criticized for that.
But it's the right thing to do because of the very issue that has been raised. We want to make sure that the people we assign to these very difficult tasks are safe, or as safe as they can be. And we want to make sure that these missions are successful.