Robert Gibbs essentially confirms Obama tried to bribe Joe Sestak

Rep. Joe Sestak is locked up in a tight Democratic Senate primary race in Pennsylvania with White House ally Arlen Specter. Sestak has claimed that the White House tried to bribe him to drop out of the primary by offering him a high-profile job. White House press flack Robert Gibbs refused to comment on Sestak's accusation on three different occasions, claiming he was still gathering the facts. At yesterday's press conference, he got slightly more specific.

“I’ve talked to several people in the White House. I’ve talked to people who have talked to others in the White House,” Gibbs said in response to a question from liberal commentator Bill Press. “I’m told that whatever conversations have been had, are not problematic. I think Congressman Sestak has discussed that this is – whatever happened is in the past and he is focused on this primary.”

CNSNews.com followed up asking if the White House counsel looked into whether the matter was legal. Gibbs responded, “I would refer you to my previous comment.”

Fox News reporter Wendell Goler followed up, “Sestak still says he was offered something.”

Gibbs responded again, “I would repeat what I just said.”

If Sestak were lying, the White House would have nothing to lose and everything to gain by denying his claim. Sestak is unlikely to win the primary and has already positioned himself against Obama by running against White House darling Specter. Instead the only denial has come from an anonymous White House official who spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Nobody will put their name to refuting Sestak's claim, even though the president's honor has been attacked here. There's a general rule in Washington: Whenever someone issues the sort of weasel-worded statement that Gibbs just did, using vague adjectives like "problematic", they're covering something up.

According to U.S. Code 18, Section 595, someone who “uses his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate of the District of Columbia or Resident Commissioner, shall be fined under the title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” The stakes are high here. Republicans are circling and Specter himself has already said that, if Sestak's claim is true, the White House committed a crime. Whoever Obama makes take the fall for this could potentially spend a year in prison.