McCain: Obama 'responsible' for national security leaks– – Agree or Disagree?

By David Eldridge

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sen. John McCain ripped into the Obama administration again Sunday over national security leaks he blames on the White House, putting the responsibility squarely at the feet of President Obama.

“I have no idea whether the president knew,” Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican, said early Sunday on CNN’s
“State of the Union.” “The president may not have done it himself,
but the president is certainly responsible as the commander in
chief.”

Mr. McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Mr. Obama, has been the leading critic of the White House over the national security leaks, which he and other congressional leaders blame on the administration.

Mr. Obama on Friday said that accusation was “offensive.”

“The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive,” Mr. Obama said during a White House news conference. “It’s wrong.”

Mr. McCain threw that charge back at the White House on Sunday.

“It’s
‘offensive’ what has happened,” he said, and he again rejected the
idea that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. should be in charge of an
investigation into the leaks.

Mr. McCain
said Congress wants to see an outside investigator look into the
leaks because the Obama-appointed Mr. Holder has “no credibility.”

The
Arizona senator and other leading Republicans have accused
administration officials of trying to bolster Mr. Obama’s foreign
policy credentials ahead of the November election.

Democrats,
including Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who chairs the
Foreign Affairs Committee, and Dianne Feinstein of California, who
chairs the Intelligence Committee, also have condemned the leaks and
pledged to lead their own investigations.