COVER UP? Sestak's Brother/Political Adviser Talked To White House About Scandal

At today's presser, President Obama refused to say Thursday whether his White House offered a job to Representative Joe Sestak:

“There will be an official response shortly on the Sestak issue, which I hope will answer your questions,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a White House news conference. “I can assure the public that nothing improper took place.”

If nothing improper happened why do they need time to formulate a response? Well according to a report by the Washington Post, it may be because everybody needs to get their story straight.  Tonight Joe Sestak said  his brother, who is the campaign's political strategist and lawyer met yesterday with the White House met about the scandal surrounding the job offer.

"They got ahold of my brother on his cellphone, and he spoke to the White House . . . about what's going to occur," said Sestak, who said he expects the White House will release its information Friday. He declined to elaborate on his discussions with his brother.

The conversion could have been entirely innocent, or it could have been two parties trying to get their stories synchronized.

...In a 15-minute interview with the Capitol press corps Thursday, Sestak said the fixation with the story is an inside-the-Beltway phenomenon that does not translate into hurting his efforts to defeat Republican Pat Toomey in November. He said the ordeal has grown out of a single quip -- answering "yes" and saying he was offered a "high-up job" -- to a question posed by longtime Philadelphia TV newsman Larry Kane during a February interview.

"Something happened last July, literally, hardly even remember it," Sestak said of the offer. "All of a sudden, in this interview, someone asked a question . . . and I answered it up front. But I immediately said the same thing I said to you and haven't deviated: Look, let's move on, the rest is politics."

Its not politics. As mentioned in Big Journalism the other day:

Congressman Sestak, if you are telling the truth about the job offer and not being forthcoming, you are covering up a possible crime.  If you are not telling the truth, it is a different issue: you are lying to your constituents and to all Americans. Which is it Congressman, Pennsylvania voters need to know — are you lying, or are you covering up a crime?

As for the White House explanation of what happened, look for the statement that the President promised to be issued late this afternoon as a Friday afternoon "news dump." They will be hoping that by issuing it on a Friday afternoon of a 3-day weekend, the story will calm down before everyone comes in from the barbecues and beaches, and go back to work on Tuesday.

Not wanting to hurt a Democrat running for Senate or their own President, the White House will probably concoct some sort of "he misunderstood" scenario, wordsmith-ed perfectly to show how the administration can be blameless, and Sestak could have believed that he was getting an offer.  At times political spin-masters can be brilliant script writers.