Geithner: 'White House told me to bend the truth'

thisnumbersdisconnected · May 12, 2014

Fox News: Geithner, in memoir, suggests White House asked him to bend truth on deficit

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claims in his new book that the White House on more than one occasion tried to put words in his mouth or outright asked him to bend the truth.

In his memoir, "Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises," Geithner recalls a Sunday talk show prep session in 2011 during which top White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer wanted him to say Social Security "didn't contribute" to the federal deficit. Geithner wrote that he objected.

"It wasn't a main driver of our future deficits, but it did contribute," Geithner wrote, explaining his own reasoning. "Pfeiffer said the line was a 'dog whistle' to the left, a phrase I had never heard before. He had to explain that the phrase was code to the Democratic base, signaling that we intended to protect Social Security."
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A Geithner spokesman told FNC that the former secretary didn't mean he'd been encouraged to go out and mislead the public.

What does he think "put words in my mouth" and "bend the truth" mean? And by the way, where was it I got the idea this White House didn't influence "talking point"?

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Geithner: 'White House told me to bend the truth'

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