The White House is denying one of its staffers threatened Watergate iconic writer Bob Woodward — the latest in a tiff that hit public airways earlier this week, when the author characterized President Obama’s actions on the sequester as madness.
Mr. Woodward, a journalist for The Washington Post, said Wednesday on MSNBC that Mr. Obama’s threat to halt military deployments due to looming budget cuts was “madness.”
Prior, according to Politico, Mr. Woodward had called and advised a senior White House official of his intent to raise public questions about Mr. Obama’s sequester statements — during which the aide “yelled at me for about a half hour,” he said. And on Wednesday evening, Fox News reports, Mr. Woodward said that the aide also sent him a threatening email, saying he would “regret” his comments.
Politico reported Thursday that the senior White House official on the email exchange is Gene Sperling, economic adviser to the president.
The White House is denying an aide threatened Mr. Woodward.
The White House wrote in an email to Fox News: “Of course no threat was intended. As Mr. Woodward noted, the email from the aide was sent to apologize for voices raised in their previous conversation. The note suggested that Mr. Woodward would regret the observation he made regarding the sequester because that observation was inaccurate, nothing more. And Mr. Woodward responded to this aide’s email in a friendly manner.”
SEE ALSO: Republican leaders’ sequester ‘meeting’ with Obama: Seven minutes
Mr. Woodward wasn’t the only one threatened by the White House, it appears. Former Clinton-era administration adviser Lanny Davis said similarly.
In an exclusive WMAL radio interview, Mr. Davis said he had received similar threats about opinion pieces he wrote for The Washington Times.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.