Sen. Blunt stops short of calling Obama liar over leaks

Sen. Roy Blunt said it was “obvious” that recent national security leaks to American media came from inside the White House despite President Obama’s comment last week that the idea his administration intentionally leaked information was offensive.

“If you read all of these stories…it is clear that the information comes from people in the administration,” the Missouri Republican senator told Thomas Roberts on msnbc Tuesday. “The president, surely if he has read these stories, knows the source was in the administration. He may not have read these stories.”

“You are saying that the president lied then?” Roberts asked.

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“No, I’m not saying that at all,” Blunt continued. “If you read the stories, the source is obviously inside the administration. I wouldn’t suggest the president would knowingly lie. I would suggest the president may not understand the consequence of his comments.”

Attorney General Eric Holder who was grilled on Capitol Hill today over security leaks has appointed two U.S. attorneys to investigate the leaks, but Republican senators, including Blunt and John McCain, today called for a separate, independent special counsel to lead the inquiry.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called on Holder to resign during the contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Holder declined to do so.