Bob Woodward, the iconic Washington Post reporter best known for uncovering the Watergate scandal that forced President Nixon to resign, says White House officials were threatening him to not write an article about the impending sequester.
According to the Washington Post, Woodward has said in multiple interviews that top Obama economic adviser Gene Sperling yelled at him over the phone and told him he would "regret" publishing a story that alleges "Obama had moved the goalposts on the sequester."
"But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post," Sperling said in the e-mail obtained by Politico. "I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim."
Woodward considered Sperling's chose of words as a threat and spoke out about it during a CNN interview.
"I mean, it makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, 'you're going to regret doing something that you believe in.'" Woodward said. "And even though we don't look at it that way, you do look at it that way. And I think if Barack Obama knew that was part of the communication's strategy - let's hope it's not a strategy, but it's a tactic that somebody's employed, and said, look, we don't go around trying to say to reporters, if you, in an honest way, present something we don't like, that, you know, you're going to regret this. And just - it's Mickey Mouse."
The article in question is an opinion column printed in the Feb. 22 issue of the paper. In the column, Woodward says it was the President who initiated the automatic spending cut of $85 billion not the Republican opposition.
"Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved," Woodward wrote.
"So when the president asks that a substitute for the sequester include not just spending cuts but also new revenue, he is moving the goal posts. His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made," he added.