WASHINGTON -- Bob Woodward isn't the only person who's received threats for airing the Obama administration's dirty laundry. It seems anyone is a potential target of the White House these days - even former senior members of the Clinton administration.
A day after Woodward's claim that a senior White House official had told him he would "regret" writing a column criticizing President Obama's stance on the sequester, Lanny Davis, a longtime close advisor to President Bill Clinton, told WMAL's Mornings on the Mall Thursday he had received similar threats for newspaper columns he had written about Obama in the Washington Times.
Davis told WMAL that his editor, John Solomon, "received a phone call from a senior Obama White House official who didn't like some of my columns, even though I'm a supporter of Obama. I couldn't imagine why this call was made." Davis says the Obama aide told Solomon, "that if he continued to run my columns, he would lose, or his reporters would lose their White House credentials."
Davis says he does not know if the White House official involved in his case is the same one who is alleged to have threatened Woodward, but he says the language used in both cases is very similar. In any case, Davis says his editor, Solomon, was not worried by the threat.
"He didn't take it seriously, because he didn't think that could ever happen. He thought it was bluster," Davis told WMAL. "I called three senior people at the White House, and I said, 'I want this person to be told this can never happen again, and it's inappropriate.' I got a call back from someone who was in the White House saying it will never happen again."
If it did happen again, Davis believes the administration did it to the wrong person.
"Firstly, you don't threaten anyone. Secondly, you don't threaten Bob Woodward," said Davis. "He's one of the best reporters ever. He's factual. You can disagree with facts that he reports, but he's factual. Don't mess with him about his facts. You can mess with him about the interpretation of his facts, but this is not a reporter you tangle with," he added.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how Lanny Davis's accusation will turn out. But as for the kerfuffle between Bob Woodward and Gene Sperling, you should read this Huffington Post article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-emails-white-house-threat_n_2781052.html
The HP article was posted at 8:53 AM this morning. You posted the WMAL article at 1:23 PM. You had plenty of time to do some fact checking.
Since Romney lost to Obama, Al has been criticizing the tendency to "demonize the other side."
Nick, haven't you been listening to Al?
And Al, do you give a damn what Nick does in your name?
That HuffPo article means nothing. Woodward's response to Sperling is no unusual at all. Woodward is a left-leaning long-time Washington insider and his response is the reason why he still has the access he does. He doesn't fly off the handle and get defensive. The Wolf Blitzer interview took place AFTER this e-mail exchange. So you must be calling Woodward a liar.
ReplyDeleteI fully stand by the story I posted. The only thing is says about Woodward is the first paragraph. And yes, Woodward says he received threats. Period. Your HuffPo doesn't change that.
BTW, HuffPo isn't exactly what you would call objective. No need to try and pick a fight when there isn't one mauman.
- Nick