Well now a bit more is dribbling out from the White House. Supposedly, the job offered to Sestak was a position on the presidents foreign policy advisory board. This is an unpaid position and the White House seems to be pointing towards the unpaid nature of the post as a defense in any criminal investigation. But there is still a problem here. The United States Code (18 USC 595) makes it a crime to offer someone a job to drop out of a primary for a senate seat. It does not matter that the job is unpaid. That code section provides that any government employee who "uses his official authority for the purpose of ... affecting, the nomination ...of any candidate for the office of ... Member of the Senate... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." Simply put, appointing someone to a federal job (paid or unpaid) is certainly using ones official authority. Making such appointment in order to determine the outcome of a primary is a federal crime. I thought the White House lawyers would be better. I guess I was wrong.
Still, we will have to see what gets said once the full report is released. I bet that the details a somewhat different from the leak and less favorable to the White House. Otherwise, there is no reason for the leak.
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