Rahm Emanuel Directed Bill Clinton to Offer Joe Sestak a Job

A bribe via Rahm Emanuel, via former President Bill Clinton: If Sestak is smart, he will come clean, quickly and face the consequences, which will be few if he steps up now. I understand a Sestak press conference is imminent. The thing to remember is that the prize for the White House was moving Sestak aside to give Sen. Arlen Specter a chance to retain his senate seat from Pennsylvania (and vote for every Obama initiative). Every Pennsylvanian should be outraged. Updates as available, and after Sestak's presser. See updates below.

Barack Obama with Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel

A bribe via Rahm Emanuel, via former President Bill Clinton: If Sestak is smart, he will come clean, quickly and face the consequences, which will be few if he steps up now. I understand a Sestak press conference is imminent. The thing to remember is that the prize for the White House was moving Sestak aside to give Sen. Arlen Specter a chance to retain his senate seat from Pennsylvania (and vote for every Obama initiative). Every Pennsylvanian should be outraged. Updates as available, and after Sestak's presser. See updates below.

If Rahm Emanuel was involved as Greg Sargent at The Plum Line is reporting, we know that Obama had his Chicago hands all over it:

But the news that Clinton is at the center of this whole story is noteworthy on its own because of the former president's stature, and underscores how heavily invested the White House was in dissuading Sestak from running. The White House sent Clinton to talk to Sestak because Arlen Specter, constituting the 60th Dem vote in the Senate, was viewed as key to enacting Obama's agenda.

 Can it get any uglier than a former President doing this? Can you imagine George W. Bush offering a bribe like this - or any bribe for that matter?

Update 11:40 a.m.
From White House Counsel Robert Bauer via Fox News' Major Garrett from a White House Report:

White House key points, from Bauer (paraphrased):
1) There were "factual errors" in reporting
2) Sestak was not offered the job of Secretary of the Navy
3) At no time did Sestak seek the job of Secretary of the Navy
4) The offer was of uncompensated advisory board options
5) One option was for Sestak to stay in the house, and serve on advisory positions to President without compensation.
6) White House staff did not discuss the options with Sestak
7)Emanuel talked to Clinton about optional positions to offer
8) Nothing nefarious about it, and other administratons have done the same thing.

Just minutes ago [11:42 a.m.],  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was on Fox News and said the "Statute" says that nothing of value can be legally offered, either  directly or indirectly, He also said Sestak has said that the White House had conversations with his [Sestak's] brother, who is his campaign manager

Update 1:00 p.m. EDT:
So, the White House and Sestak have their story worked out on Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend - what a classy bunch - absolutely not respect for American voters:
Sestak has issued a statement, but I'm not yet finding it on line. Originally, Sestak said Clinton/Rahm Emanuel offered him a" job, not an "advisory position." Today's story from Sestak, however,  says he was only offered a position on a presidential board, with no compensation, while remaining a U.S. Representative in the House.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey on FOX said "this is politics as usual." To that comment, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said if that is true, let it stop now, and he said he would stop it! Mukasey said this would only break one of the statutes if the offer was for a position created by Congress, such as Secretary of Navy. Others are seeing it differently.

Linked by Talk Wisdom - Thank you!

Dick Morris Joe Sestak: Dick Morris Suggestion to make White House and Sestak Talk

Deck Morris suggests, via an idea gleaned from Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano, that Pennsylvania Attorney General, Tom Corbett, convene a grand jury, bring in Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), maybe Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief-of-Staff and, maybe, Barack Obama to testify under oath.

Judge Andrew Napolitano and  Dick Morris

The State of Pennsylvania and it's voters were obviously compromised if a job offer was made to Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) to step out of the U.S. Senate race to make smooth sailing for RINO defecter-turned-Democrat, Arlen Specter. If Sestak had taken the White House's offer, he would have tainted the election process - affected the race and the choices available to voters. The offer would be considered a bribe, and could amount to felony charges for someone. When the illegal offer was made, Joe Sestak was bound by House Rules to report it. He didn't. Instead, he was ticked at Obama for attempting to drum him out of a Senate seat, and made the claim to the press. Sestak's story hasn't wavered. Someone is lying - either Sestak or the White House.

Tom Corbett is a Republican running for Pennsylvania governor:

Corbett’s jurisdiction stems from the concept of universal jurisdiction, now accepted virtually everywhere.  The concept is simple.  If someone on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River fires a pistol across the Hudson and the bullet from the pistol hits someone on the NY side, where did the crime take place? For about 600 years, the answer would have been in NY, where the harm was caused. Under the Reagan administration, and in response to urgings from the Meese Justice Department, the courts began to accept the doctrine of universal jurisdiction. This principle gives jurisdiction to law enforcement in the place wherever any act occurred that may have resulted in a crime. Thus, under our scenario above, the shooter could be prosecuted in NJ or NY.

Thus, if Cong. Sestak was in one of his homes, in PA or VA, when he received a telephone call offering him a job if he withdrew from the PA Senate primary against Sen. Arlen Specter, law enforcement authorities in PA and VA — both of which have Republican state Attorneys General — can subpoena Cong. Sestak to testify before a state grand jury and compel him to answer the who, what, when, and where that everyone has a right to know.i

Apparently it is too much to expect Sestak to do the right and lawful thing. He either lied, or he didn't. He needs to 'speak' it because he brought it out. Now he needs to put it to bed. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is pushing for an investigation separate from the White House or the Department of Justice. This sounds like a jewel of a plan - if the offer was made to Sestak while he was in the state of Pennsylvania.

Linked by Talk Wisdom - Thanks Christine!

Oh Dang! Specter may tack Right

Defeated Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), who won't be coming back to the Senate after this session is hinting that he may begin voting more like a Republican than a Democrat:

...several longtime friends and associates tell The Daily Beast that without a primary challenge to pressure him, the veteran senator - a famously prickly character whose temper has earned him the nickname "Snarlin' Arlen" - may shift to the right

The big question seems to be, will Specter vote for Elena Kagan's confirmation? Of course he will. Duh!

H/T to Hot Air

Issa Calls for Ethics Probe: Bob Bauer Behind Obama-Sestak Stonewall

White House attorney Robert Bauer, the husband of former White House Communications Director and  Maoist- philosophy admirer, Anita Dunn, is fingered by Michelle Malkin as complicit in the Sestak stonewall.

Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn

Attorney General Eric Holder was questioned in the U.S. House by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) last week, about Sestak's claim that someone in the White House offered Sestak a job in exchange for  dropping out of his Democrat senate race against party-jumper Arlen Specter (D-PA) (who lost his primary to Sestak). Malkin says Holder told Issa he would not address "hypotheticals," and Malkin claims Holder was simply following orders from Bob Bauer, Obama's "personal lawyer and Democratic Party legal boss."

You see, on March 10, Issa also sent a letter to Bauer, the White House counsel to the president, requesting specifics: Did White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel contact Sestak? Did White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina (whom another Democrat, U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff, has accused of offering a cabinet position in exchange for his withdrawal)? How about the White House Office of Political Affairs? Any other individuals? What position(s) was/were offered in exchange for Sestak’s withdrawal? And what, if any, steps did Bauer take to investigate possible criminal activity?...

But the laws governing such public corruption are still on the books. And unlike Gibbs [Obama press secretary], the U.S. code governing bribery, graft and conflicts of interest is rather straightforward: “Whoever solicits or receives … any … thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”

Read the entire story at Michelle Malkin.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), once-upon-a-time furious with the White House for trying to move him out of the Senate race, told the press months ago that he was offered a job by the Obama administration. Then he clammed up and refused to tell "who" or "what," although he has not wavered sin. Problem is, he isn't saying who offered him another job, or what the job was, although there are speculations that Admiral Sestak may have been offered the Secretary of the Navy position. Now Sestak faces the possibility of a House Ethics probe because he did not report the decidedly illegal job offer to House leaders. The bottomline: Sestak is guilty either way: guilty as a member of the U.S. Congress not reporting an illegal act, or guilty of lying.

Former Clinton White House advisor, Dick Morris says this is possibly an impeachable offense.

This scandal could be enormous...It's Valerie Plame only 10 times bigger, because it's illegal and Joe Sestak is either lying or the White House committed a crime."

Obviously, the offer of a significant job in the White House could not be made unless it was by Rahm Emanue or cleared with Rahm Emanuel, [said Morris on the Sean Hannity Show]. If the job offer was high enough that it also had Obama's approval, "that is a high crime and misdemeanor." 

In other words, an impeachable offense? Hannity asked. "Absolutely," said Morris

More on Sestak and a White House bribe at WorldNetDaily.


Related and Background:
Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn - Power Couple

Arlen Specter: Administration or Sestak is Lying - May be a Felony

In February, Rep. Joe Sestak confirmed that he was offered a job by the Obama administration if he would drop his primary challenge to Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA). Senator Specter said if this happened, someone has committed a "misprison of a felony," [meaning the White House or Sestak]. Sestak would not say who offered the job, or what the job offered was.

There's a crime called misprison of a felony. Misprison of a felony is when you don't report a crime. So you're getting pretty deep areas here in these considerations.  

~U.S. Senator Arlen Specter on March 12, 2010

So, no one is willing to confirm or deny from the White House, and Sestak says it happened but is unwilling to name names. Do we call this 'stonewalling?'

Then there is one more possible "misprison of a felony."

September 27, 2009 -- the Denver Post reports that Obama White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina allegedly offered a job in the Obama administration to ex-Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, if Romanoff dropped his planned  primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. Romanoff refuses comment and runs anyway.

Read the details at the Daily Caller, which also quotes Nixon White House Counsel John Dean:

The 'stonewall strategy' functioned from the very first episodes of the cover-up. It was instinctive, from the very tope of the Administration to the bottom. It was also ad hoc, developed in small reactions to the flurry of each day's events...we found ourselves trying to hold a line where we could.

Judgeships for Sale and Sestak Offered High-Ranking Position not to Challenge Specter

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT-2nd) voted against the House health care bill in November, and is on Obama's "undecided" list to vote for the next legislation. So what is a President to do? Buy him off, of course.  Jim Matheson's brother Scott was nominated yesterday for the 10th Circuit Court by Obama. If this health care business is going to be over as soon as the President indicates, why not hold this nomination? There is vote-buying going on. If Rep. Matheson could not support the bill the first time around, he surely cannot stomach it now. Rep. Sestak revealed that he was offered a high-ranking position, by the White House, not to challenge Senator Arlen Specter's Senate seat.

The President invited ten House Democrats to the White House last night. Each voted no the first time around: Rep. Jason Altmire (PA), Rep. Allen Boyd (FL), Rep. Lincoln Davis (TN), Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (SD), Rep. Frank Kratovil (MD), Rep. Ed Markey (Mass), Rep. Jim Matheson (PA), Rep. Patrick Murphy (PA), Rep. Heath Shuler (NC) and Rep. John Tanner (TN).

Consider Congressman Matheson's record on the health care bill. He voted against the bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee back in July and again when it passed the House in November. 

But now he's "undecided" on ramming the bill through Congress. "The Congressman is looking for development of bipartisan consensus," Matheson's press secretary Alyson Heyrend wrote to THE WEEKLY STANDARD on February 22. "It’s too early to know if that will occur." 

Asked if one could infer that if no Republican votes in favor of the bill (i.e. if a bipartisan consensus is not reached) then Rep. Matheson would vote no, Heyrend replied: "I would not infer anything.  I’d wait to see what develops, starting with the health care summit on Thursday." 

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) says he was offered a federal job in July 2009, by the White House, if he would not challenge Senator Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. The White House essentially said Sestak lied:

A White House spokesman this morning strongly denied Sestak had been offered yesterday. Before the spokesman issued the denial a senior Pennsylvania Democrat yesterday said Whitye House officials there were angered by Sestak's account.

Sestak announced his candidacy for the Senate in August. Rumors are that Sestak was offered the position of Secretary of the Navy, rumors which Sestak refuses to confirm, although he did say the position was a "high-ranking." Sestak (58) is a retired Navy admiral.