Senior Adviser David Plouffe Denies President Obama Declassified National Security Information
President Obama spoke out about the national security leaks recently and said the notion that his White House would purposely leak any classified information is “offensive.” Today David Plouffe, senior adviser to the president, was asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if the president himself declassified any of the information.
Plouffe answered, “[President Obama] has zero tolerance for this kind of national security leak. There has now been by the Attorney General two United States attorneys appointed to investigate this, including a Bush appointee. We take this as seriously as anything can be taken.”
Wallace asked him to clarify with a “yes” or “no” answer, did the president declassify any of the information published
the articles? Plouffe said, “No of course he didn’t. Of course he didn’t.”
The quotes in the NY Times articles are said to be from members of the national security team. Plouffe rebuffed suggestions that they would leak any information. He continued, “Part of what’s going on here, the Republicans in Congress are pretty clear … What did they say one of their core strategic priorities was -- was to engage in investigations to damage this president politically.”
He went on to say, “We’re going to let that investigation proceed rather than turning this into some game of distraction, because what we really need to focus on here is we have to continue to fight against Al Qaeda. We have to continue the progress we’ve made. We also have to turn our attention as forcefully as we can to the economy and creating jobs.”
