CNN news 2012-06-14 加文本

cnn news 2012-06-14

Good evening, everyone. We begin tonight with breaking news.

We have just learned that Attorney General Eric Holder has assigned two U.S. attorneys to lead investigations into the possible leaking of state secrets, classified information. Pressure had been building over the alleged leaks. Senator John McCain has claimed White House officials leaked information about U.S. counterterrorism efforts overseas to boost Mr. Obama's national security credentials. Some Democrats have agreed.

The leaks resulted in a wave of recent news reports. Well, today, President Obama once again denied the White House deliberately leaked state secrets.

Chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin is joining us now with the breaking news.

So the administration has been feeling -- clearly feeling bipartisan pressure for several days now, Jessica, on these leaks. What do we know?

JESSICA YELLIN, cnn CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson.

Well, look, it's a time-tested Washington strategy. Leak unpleasant news on a Friday night and hope the media is out drinking and too busy to pay attention. But the president also -- I'm joking a little bit, but the president also was under a lot of pressure after his answers at a press conference today when he didn't definitively say whether or not the administration was investigating these leaks.

Here's the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: There are leak investigations going on now, is that what you're saying...

(CROSSTALK)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I'm saying is, is that we consistently, whenever there is classified information that is put out into the public we try to find out where that came from. All right?

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Now Anderson, the president -- some on the Hill have, as you say, accused the White House of deliberately leaking the information to make the president look like a strong commander in chief in an election year.

And the White House has emphatically denied that charge. The question is, was anybody in the administration involved in sharing any of this information? And that's what this investigation is helping to get to the bottom of -- Anderson.

COOPER: I mean, clearly, if you read some of these reports, there was this article in "The New York Times" about the program, the computer virus used against Iran. It does quote administration officials, whether or not they were leaking classified information. I guess that's what investigators will look into.

Now, some on Capitol Hill, Senator McCain among them, had called for basically an independent investigation, a special counsel to be appointed. Clearly, the White House is not going down that road. Do you think this is going to satisfy critics on the Hill who say that the White House -- the Justice Department should not be investigating the White House?

YELLIN: Well, there are some who are probably not going to be satisfied.

But this is according to Attorney General Holder standard procedure at this point. And what you have at this stage are two very senior prosecutors who are investigating them. Each is a U.S. attorney.

There's Ronald Machen, who was nominated by President Obama, a Democrat, who is leading one of the investigations. But the other investigation is being led by a man named Rod Rosenstein. And he was appointed by George W. Bush originally. And he actually at one point served with Ken Starr.

You remember him because he helped investigate Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky affair, so hardly a Democrat, hardly neutral guy -- not somebody you could say is going to be in the president's back pocket. Both are graduates of Harvard Law School, interestingly, because the president was as well.

And Attorney General Eric Holder has said that he has notified members of Congress about this investigation, but will continue to update them, both members of the Intel Committee, Intelligence Committee,and the Judiciary Committee. So that should satisfy some members of Congress who do insist on being kept abreast of these sorts of things, Anderson.

COOPER: You have been covering the White House now for a while. How seriously is the White House taking this? How bad -- how much do they worry about this as having blowback on the president?

YELLIN: Well, look, this administration points out, and it's true, that they take leaks seriously. And they have actually investigated and prosecuted more leakers than other administrations.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: In fact, in all other administrations combined. They have I think six ongoing cases.

YELLIN: Right, and they take a lot of heat from the left for it, because it's not something that you expect from a Democratic administration.

So, they say they take it seriously. And the president pointed that out today, that he has zero tolerance for this. The thing about these sorts of investigations is, once they start, you never know where they lead and how long they last. So the political implications could be potentially damaging for this administration in an election year.

And I would also finally add this has not been a good week for the president, not just this leak story, but he had disappointing jobs numbers. He had all sorts of political damage with the campaign this week. So, it's just been a tough one for the president. I think he will be glad for the weekend to come, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, and a difficult day.

Jessica, stick around, because we want to talk to you more about that in just a moment.

Another "Keeping Them Honest" report now. president Obama really gave Republicans what some are calling a gift when he said this at the Friday press briefing.