Obama spokesman Jay Carney calls CBS' Sharyl Attkisson a liar

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson's quest for the Pulitzer continued yesterday with new revelations concerning "Operation Fast and Furious", the disastrous ATF program that handed military-style murder weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

Attkisson reports that Eric Holder's Deputy A.G. received a "detailed Fast and Furious briefing".

Documents recently turned over by the Justice Department to Congressional investigators indicate that then-Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler received a detailed briefing on Fast and Furious more than a year and a half ago.

...The briefing Grindler attended was on March 12, 2010, six months into ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons on the street in an attempt to track down Mexican drug cartels. Portions of the documents are redacted.

Her dogged investigation has made Attkisson a target of the White House.

Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?

Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me.

Ingraham: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?

Attkisson: Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House...

...They will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable... They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.

Asked about the verbal attacks on the CBS reporter, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, basically, Attkisson was lying.

Again, I don't... I take issue with the report. I don't know that it's true. I know that you are tough enough to handle an extra decibel or two. I don't that's what happened here, but it's surprising to me.

But it was Carney, not Attkisson, who was also caught lying misstating the truth about the burgeoning "Energy-gate" story.

For weeks, the White House’s official line had been that there was no political or donor pressure to approve the [Solyndra] loan and a prominent 2008 Obama fundraiser named Steve Spinner—who advised the Energy Department—had recused himself from the Solyndra matter, in part because his wife’s law firm represented the company.

Even McCurry’s current successor at the podium, Obama press secretary Jay Carney repeated the line a few days ago.

“It’s my understanding, at least with regard to the gentleman you just mentioned [Steve Spinner], that he had no connection to overseeing the loan guarantee program,” Carney declared when asked by ABC about a Spinner connection.

Documents released yesterday show that Spinner squeezed the Energy Department to approve the loan, even invoking the office of the president and the vice president.

“How hard is this? What is he waiting for?” Spinner wrote in an Aug, 28, 2009 email to an Energy Department official. “I have the OVP (Office of the vice president) and WH (the White House) breathing down my neck on this. They are getting itchy to get involved.”

Later that same day, Spinner implored the officials to “walk over there and force him to give you the answer.”

For Jay Carney's next appearance in the White House press room, I suggest wiring him up to a polygraph with a shock collar.

That would make for some entertaining television.