At a recent White House press briefing, Scott McClellan told reporters that he was reviewing WH records so he could get a better sense of Jack Abramoff’s dealings with the White House, including number of visits, meetings, pictures, etc. Reporters were naturally curious about the information and McClellan told them, “I’m making sure that I have a thorough report back to you on that. And I’ll get that to you, hopefully very soon.”
That was last week. Yesterday, McClellan got back to reporters, but I think it’s fair to say the press secretary didn’t exactly have “a thorough report” for the press corps.
The White House is refusing to reveal details of tainted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s visits with President Bush’s staff.
Abramoff had “a few staff-level meetings” at the Bush White House, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. But he would not say with whom Abramoff met, which interests he was representing or how he got access to the White House.
The transcript was almost amusing. Reporters kept asking about Abramoff, a “pioneer” who helped raise at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign, and McClellan kept saying, in no uncertain terms, that he didn’t want to talk about it.
A reporter asked if the White House would be willing to provide Congress or the public a list of Abramoff’s contacts with senior staff. McClellan wouldn’t answer the question. Asked when Abramoff attended staff-level meetings at the White House, McClellan said “early in the 2000 time period,” which is not only vague, but odd since Bush didn’t take office until 2001.
Who was in the staff-level meetings with Abramoff? McClellan wouldn’t say. What issues were discussed at the meetings Abramoff attended? McClellan wouldn’t say. Which clients were represented by Abramoff at his White House meetings? McClellan wouldn’t say. Did any of the president’s senior staff attend these meetings? McClellan wouldn’t say. Did Karl Rove meet with Abramoff? McClellan wouldn’t say.
McClellan’s strangest tack, though, was when he suggested it’s up to reporters to come up with specific information, not just specific questions. The reporters were not amused.
McClellan: Well, if you’ve got something to bring to my attention, do so, and then I’ll be glad to look into it.
Q: Scott, that’s not a fair burden to place on us. This is a guy who is a tainted lobbyist, and he has connections — we want to know — with whom in the White House. You shouldn’t demand that we give you something specific to go check it out. I mean, this guy is radioactive in Washington. And he knows guys like Karl Rove. So did he meet with him or not?
McClellan: I know of nothing that —
Q: Don’t put it on us to bring something specific. It’s a specific question about a specific individual.
Q: Can you tell us if he met with Karl Rove?
McClellan: Because we don’t discuss staff-level meetings —
Q: Of course you do, whenever you want to discuss staff-level meetings. And if Karl Rove, who has ties to Ralph Reed, which he does, we want to know if he has ties to Jack Abramoff, and if they met —
McClellan: Well, I can answer that.
Q: Oh, great. Well, before you said —
McClellan: No, I mean, about if he knows — yes, he knows — he knows Mr. Abramoff. They are both former heads of the College Republicans. That’s how they got to know each other way back, I think it was in the early ’80s. And my understanding is that Karl would describe it as more of a casual relationship, than a business relationship. That’s what he has said.
But if you’ve got specific matters that I need to look into, it’s my point that I think it’s your obligation to bring that to my attention and I’ll be glad to take a look into it.
Q: Well, I don’t —
McClellan: There’s been no —
Q: — no, no, but I don’t think it’s our obligation to do anything. If we want to know whether there was pending business that Abramoff represented to members of the staff here at the White House, what do we need —
McClellan: There’s been no suggestion of anything like that out of this White House.
Q: — some kind of an affidavit to bring you to —
McClellan: There’s been no suggestion of anything like this in this White House.
When reporters start getting feisty, it’s usually because they know they’re onto something and McClellan is trying to stonewall them. With any luck, they won’t let up.