Rep. Darrell Issa said Thursday that he wants a special prosecutor called to investigate whether the White House broke the law by allegedly offering a job to a Democratic congressman to coax him out of a race against a prominent senator.
Rep. Darrell Issa from California said Thursday that he wants a special prosecutor called to investigate whether the White House broke the law by allegedly offering a job to a Democratic congressman to coax him out of a race against a prominent senator.
Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he thinks there’s a “very high” chance of getting a prosecutor assigned since the allegation would constitute a crime.
“What you have is a credible allegation by a member of Congress of a felony,” Issa told Fox News. “It is a felony to offer somebody a federal job in order to get them to affect an election.”
The allegation is that the White House offered Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., a job to abandon his primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. The allegation first surfaced in an interview in February with Philadelphia television anchor Larry Kane.
Sestak told Kane that he was offered a federal job to exit the race. When Kane asked if the White House offered the position, Sestak replied, “Yes.”
Sestak has said he’s not withdrawing from the race, but has since clammed up about the incident. He declined to elaborate on the allegation in an interview with Fox News March 10.
Meanwhile, the White House has offered little information about the conversation that may have transpired between administration officials and Sestak. After initially dodging questions on the topic for weeks, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs last week said he talked to “people” in the White House about the claim and that, “I’m told whatever conversations have been had are not problematic.”
He added that the incident is “in the past.”
Not for Issa. He said Thursday that the assessment from Gibbs that the alleged incident was “not problematic” is not enough to avoid more scrutiny.
“It’s very clear that a special prosecutor is statutorily and historically the right way to go,” he said. “If they had any possibility of being credible in offering it, that’s a felony.”
In 1998, I worked on Issa’s Senate campaign. I’m proud of him. Just one more vote the DemonCrats will be held accountable by moderates, independents and the reasonable come November. Finally, bringing some accounting to the Chicago Thug Machine.
Issa is an idiot. Isn’t he the guy that started the recall of Gray Davis hoping to take over his seat? Too bad the GOP wanted the Terminator instead and little girly Issa couldn’t hold back the tears while speaking on television.
Is this the guy?
That’s the guy, Lam Pho. In some ways he’s not the very worst of Republicans, but he is a pain in the ass about calling for investigations over every little thing. You see him a lot on shows like Bill Maher, he’s a bit of a ham.
Fun fact: He made millions before joining the Congress, selling car alarms. Funner fact: If you remember older alarms from the 90s where a menacing voice says “STEP. AWAY. FROM THE CAR.” – that’s his voice.
Sestak told Kane that he was offered a federal job to exit the race. When Kane asked if the White House offered the position, Sestak replied, “Yes.”
What do you need a special prosecutor for?
Vern… I guess anyone willing to appear on the Bill Maher show can’t be all that bad. Interesting facts about the car alarm and voice thing. So the guy who said “STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR” was defeated by the guy who said, “I’ll be back”.