White House Asked Bill Clinton to Urge Sestak to Drop Out of Senate Race Published May 28, 2010 | FOXNews.com
The White House asked former President Bill Clinton to talk to Rep. Joe Sestak about the possibility of obtaining a senior position in the Obama administration if he would drop out of the Democratic primary race against establishment-backed Sen. Arlen Specter, the Obama administration will say in a report to be released Friday morning, Fox News has confirmed.
The report, by the White House Counsel's office, will describe the Clinton conversations as informal and unhinged from any precise job offer since, as a former president, Clinton could not guarantee Sestak anything.
The conversations with Sestak were initiated by Clinton at the behest of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel was Clinton's political director when he was president. Clinton promoted Sestak to vice admiral and made his director of defense policy. Sestak was a loyal and tireless supporter of Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2008.
The report will be released one day after President Obama said the White House would issue a formal explanation that should answer questions about Sestak's allegation and insisted "nothing improper" happened. On the same day, Clinton had lunch with Obama.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has also said nothing improper happened, but refused to elaborate when asked repeatedly about the charge at Thursday's briefing.
Sestak, who did not drop out and won the race against Specter last week, repeated his allegation in an interview on Sunday, but also declined to elaborate.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has been leading the charge for more details on the allegation, said he hopes Obama's pending response "will detail what conversations were had with Congressman Sestak."
"If what the president said is true and nothing 'improper' took place, Adm. Sestak's credibility will be called into significant question," Issa said in a statement. "If the president's response is insufficient or contradicted, the situation will only escalate."
Fox News' Major Garrett contributed to this report.
