As Twitchy reported, the White House pushed today’s press briefing from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Tweeters speculated that the decision had to do with a desperate effort to cover itself in light of the damning new evidence for a Benghazi cover-up. And it looks like they were right:
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/332918802562043905
Politico reports:
The off-the-record session was announced to reporters in the wake of an ABC News report showing that White House and State Dept. officials were involved in revising the now-discredited CIA talking points about the attack on Benghazi.
Transparency, y’all.
#MostTransparentAdminNevah RT @SalenaZitoTrib: #Benghazi briefing held by White House was off the record. Now, think about that.
— BarbaraMcMahon((?)) (@southsalem) May 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/statuses/332925410662838272
Great question.
Considering all the stuff that was revealed this week, holding an off-the-record briefing with reporters seems grossly inappropriate today.
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 10, 2013
The panic would be hilarious if it weren’t so brazenly douchey.
Nothing says "not a cover-up" like secret meetings with select members of the media who promise to keep what's revealed quiet.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 10, 2013
Paging @PressSec any answer on this? RT @fran_chambers: If you don't have anything to hide, why hold an off-the-record briefing?
— Marc T Grove (@MarcTGroveSr) May 10, 2013
Hey @PressSec Jay Carney: What do you have to say to the White House Press Corps today that you can't say in front of the rest of us?
— Stars and Stripes (@StarznStrypz) May 10, 2013
C’mon, Jay.
Non-journo friend says this OTR Benghazi meeting is "too obvious" damage control :like, amazingly weirdly obvious and stupid"
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 10, 2013
What's the purpose of briefing the press on a terrorist attack "off-the-record"? The press' job is to report.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 10, 2013
Exactly.
@DylanByers Mistake by WH 2hold off the record briefing 4 some press b4 today's briefing. That will infuriate reporters not invited
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) May 10, 2013
CNN’s Jake Tapper, for one, is not happy, as evidenced by this retweet:
Big mistake!!!!!! Reporters are not happy with this off the record briefing before the briefing with a handful of the Press Corps.
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 10, 2013
Were hush-donuts involved?
No word as to whether there were donuts. RT @DylanByers #Break: White House holds off-the-record Benghazi briefing http://t.co/S9yfImiF9Z
— Razor (@hale_razor) May 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/332920173214453760
Oh, and now comes the news that the briefing has been pushed back even further, to 3:15 p.m.:
WH briefing is now at 3:15.
— Brian Hughes (@BrianHughesATL) May 10, 2013
This. RT @jaketapper: WH press briefing scheduled for 12:30, then 1:45, now 3:15
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 10, 2013
Well, gee.
WH brief pushed back from 12:30 to 1:45 to 3:15 as elite press are schmoozed off the record on Benghazi. Gosh, what deft stagecraft.
— Roger Simon (@politicoroger) May 10, 2013
This is shaping up to be one hell of a briefing — assuming the White House has the guts to go through with it.
Okay. I think we have every right to know which journalists were at the off-the-record briefing today. We want names. NOW.
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 10, 2013
If whoever is in that off-the-record briefing doesn't ask Carney the exact same questions at the public one, we're going to be able to tell.
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 10, 2013
First Q from ANY journo in that OTR briefing should be: "As you stated in the OTR briefing… (followed by question)."
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 10, 2013
I can't WAIT for today's WH presser.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 10, 2013
***
Update:
Well, well, well:
Oh my God. It has been changed from "off-the-record" to "deep background." http://t.co/I2WxUSBV72 We're being played, folks.
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 10, 2013
Politico has changed the report’s original title and posted a correction. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told author Dylan Byers that the meeting was not technically off-the-record; rather, it was conducted on “deep background.”
Uh-huh.
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