Former
Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday hyped a call for
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resign over the revelations in the
WikiLeaks release. While talking to Robert Gibbs, the GMA host quoted
Jack Shafer of
Slate: "
Diplomacy is about face. And the only way for other nations to save face will be to give them Clinton's scalp."
The attack on the wife of his former boss may seem out of character for
Stephanopoulos, but it still came from a default liberal perspective.
The anchor began his badgering of Gibbs by noting, "...The State
Department brushed off this call by Julian Assange for Hillary Clinton
to resign. But Assange is not alone."
Continuing to recite from Shafer's article, he lectured the White House
Press Secretary: "There's no way that the new WikiLeaks leaks don't
leave Hillary Clinton holding the smoking gun. Sooner or later, the
weakened and humiliated Secretary of State will have to pay."
Shafer's
anger came over the WikiLeak revelation that Clinton asked State
Department officials to collect data on U.N. officials.
On Monday, Stephanopoulos offered another sympathetic take on the scandal.
He quoted Assange himself: "If citizens in a democracy want their
governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what's going
on behind the scenes." The host then wondered if the leaks were
"important information for the public to have."
A transcript of the December 1 segment follows:
7am tease
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning, Washington's big battle. As your
taxes about to go up? Will the government shut down? Can the President
and Congress agree to extend unemployment benefits before they dry up?
Our questions this morning for White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
7:06 EST
STEPHANOPOULOS:
And now for the President's perspective on all this, we're joined by
the White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs. And we just heard Jim
Sciutto say the White House, I mean the State Department brushed off
this call by Julian Assange for Hillary Clinton to resign. But Assange
is not alone. Jack Shafer in Slate says that this cable asking State
Department officials to collect information on U.N. Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon and others, is a sign that Hillary Clinton is going to have
to go. He writes, "Diplomacy is about face. And the only way for other
nations to save face will be to give them Clinton's scalp. There's no
way that the new WikiLeaks leaks don't leave Hillary Clinton holding the
smoking gun. Sooner or later, the weakened and humiliated Secretary of
State will have to pay." Your response?
ROBERT GIBBS: I think that absurd and ridiculous. I think Secretary of
State Clinton is doing a wonderful job. I think the foreign policy that
she and the President are pursuing will make us stronger in the world.
Will make our country safer. He appreciates greatly the work that she
does. And we also appreciate, both of them, appreciate the great work
our diplomats do around the world, to further our American interests and
keep this world safe from people who wish to do us harm.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Meanwhile, there's an Interpol warrant out for Mr.
Assange's arrest. Are U.S. authorities actively trying to arrest him?
GIBBS: Look, there's an ongoing criminal investigation into the leaking
and the posting of all these documents, George. I don't want to get
into that. Obviously, there is a series of criminal activities that have
happened that are being looked into. And our government has not ruled
any options out.
STEPHANOPOULOS: By Mr. Assange?
GIBBS: Our government has not ruled any options out and I'm certainly not going to do that here today.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Meanwhile, we've heard that WikiLeaks is seeking out
other targets, including corporations, banks, perhaps media
organization. Is there any way to shut them down?
GIBBS: Well, George, I don't- I don't know all the details of that. And
probably wouldn't get into it here. But, I think it's important for the
American people to know that our foreign policy is stronger than one
person and one person and one person's website.
STEPHANOPOULOS:
Let's turn to the domestic issues right now. We heard Senator McConnell
in Jon Karl's piece say that Republicans are absolutely united behind
the principles that no one's taxes at all should go up. Many Democrats
have also joined that position. Doesn't that mean that there's going to have to be a temporary extension for all the tax cuts?
GIBBS: Well, George, as you know, the President yesterday in meeting
with bipartisan leaders, appointed our OMB Director Jack Lew and our
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to sit down with members and senators to
start work through a compromise. The President's principles are clear.
And that is for the middle class, their taxes cannot go up when a series
of tax cuts expire. His other line in the sand, quite frankly, George,
is that many Republicans would like to see the tax cuts for millionaires
and billionaires extended permanently. That's borrowing $700 billion
from countries like China, money we don't have. So, the President has
tasked those individuals to find some amount of common ground that
exists in the parameters that I just laid out. I think the President's
very optimistic, though, that we can get something that keeps our
economy moving, that strengthens our economic recovery, and most
importantly, doesn't raise taxes on middle-class Americans.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, you just said extending the tax cuts for the
wealthy is a line in the sand. Does that mean the President would veto
any bill that extends the tax cuts for the wealthy?
GIBBS: Well, no. I said something that would permanently extend the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Ahh, okay. That's helpful. I guess the question,
then that we'll turn to, because a lot of people seem to be coalescing
around this idea of temporary extension, is what can Democrats and the
White House get in return? And what are the President's top priorities
there? It seems like, from what you said in the past, that the START
treaty and extending unemployment benefits seem to be at the top of the
list. Would that be a fair trade? Temporary extension of all of the tax
cuts, in return for passage of the START treaty and the extension of
unemployment benefits?
GIBBS: Well, I want to put these two issues aside, George. Because I
think that we have a responsibility, Democrats and Republican, to figure
out this tax issue by the end of the year, when tax cuts are set to
expire and taxes would go up for those that have not just been battered
by this recession, but battered by years before this recession. The
President also strongly believes, and I think there was some agreement
in that room yesterday, that the Senate's going to be here for a little
bit. The House will, too. And there are other this that we can and
should get done, keeping our country safe from loose nuclear weapons by
approving the START treaty that reduces the stockpiles and Russia's
nuclear stockpile and gives us the ability to verify what they're doing
with their nuclear arsenal, I think is tremendously important and will
keep our country safe. You mentioned unemployment insurance benefits,
which are crucial for those who are suffered in this recession and need a
little help because that money goes right back into the economy. I
think those are a host of things that the President and I think
bipartisan leaders, can get done before we leave town for the year.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay. Robert Gibbs, thank you very much. We have ten
seconds left. Should we also expect that any staff changes in the white
house will be announced before the President goes on vacation?
GIBBS: You know, I think some certainly will. I don't know that all of
them will be made before the end of the year.
- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
