May 27, 2010 5:53 PM

Was Elizabeth Birnbaum Fired? Don't Ask Obama

By
Sharyl Attkisson
Topics
Obama Administration
(Credit: http://www.mms.gov)

When President Obama's Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised to root out the "bad apples" yesterday at a House hearing, the head of Minerals Management Service was at the same hearing -- about to be plucked from the tree.

Elizabeth Birnbaum's departure was first reported as a "firing." Later, a "resignation." When asked for clarity, President Obama told the press corps today he had no idea.

"Did she resign," asked CBS White House Correspondent Chip Reid. "Was she fired? Was she forced out? And if so, why?"

"I found out about her resignation today," the president answered, "so I don't know the circumstances in which this occurred."

An incredulous press corps followed up.

"How is it that you didn't know about Ms. Birnbaum's resignation/firing before?" asked another reporter.

Mr. Obama: "Well, you're assuming it was a firing. If it was a resignation, then she would have submitted a letter to Mr. Salazar this morning at a time when I had a whole bunch of other stuff going on... Come on, I don't know. I'm telling you I found out about it this morning. So I don't yet know the circumstances, and Ken Salazar has been in testimony on the Hill."

The testimony today on the Hill from Interior Secretary Salazar only seemed to add to the mixed message. He called Birnbaum a "strong leader" and added "we have done tremendous work."

In light of her resignation, Birnbaum understandably didn't join Salazar as once expected. In prepared testimony, she planned to tell the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment: "The Secretary has expressed his appreciation and full support of the Inspector General's strong work to root out the bad apples in MMS and we will follow through on her recommendations, including taking any and all appropriate personnel actions including termination, discipline, and referrals of any wrongdoing for criminal prosecution."

Birnbaum resigned before she could deliver her prepared remarks. She hadn't even been at MMS for a full year. But today she nonetheless became the highest-level casualty of MMS's lax oversight and cozy ties to oil.


  • Sharyl Attkisson

    Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News investigative correspondent based in Washington. All of her stories, videos and blogs are available here.

Add a Comment
by sunday42 May 28, 2010 1:51 PM EDT
One more of Barry's traveling thesbians bites the dust. If you want to get the facts on anything in the administration Obama is the last one you would ask.
Reply to this comment
by tsigili May 28, 2010 1:13 PM EDT
Yes he knows.....he just is lying about it, as he has many things.
Reply to this comment
by Harden_Tar May 28, 2010 9:25 AM EDT
Out of the loop again. I am suprise he doesn't have a "Firing Czar" to do his dirty work for him.
Reply to this comment
by sgrenoble May 28, 2010 7:00 AM EDT
She must be the lowest level high-level firing in US history. What a painless non-statement to the world. I'm beginning to think that non-action, un-statements and affirming denials are the hallmark of this administration, and perhaps explain its apparent inability to react to a true emergency with anything other than confusing doublespeak.
Reply to this comment
by pasmalltown May 28, 2010 7:29 AM EDT
by sgrenoble May 28, 2010 7:00 AM EDT -
"She must be the lowest level high-level firing in US history."
----------------------------
"Well, you're assuming it was a firing.." Worse than the "confusing doublespeak" you're railing about is the ASSUMPTION that she was fired....... Or do you have the "inside" track on what in fact happened to Ms Birnbaum?

"Birnbaum resigned before she could deliver her prepared remarks." So you couldn't have gotten the "firing" idea unless you spoke with her directly.
by Quiet_Voice May 27, 2010 10:34 PM EDT
Just what would a former Harvard Law Review Editor know about minerals management? From 2001 until 2007 she worked for American Rivers telling the Senate how hydroelectric dams are killing things. When she was appointed last year in the buddy job at the MMS her resume was a list of consulting jobs.

Will anyone in the media make the Harvard Law Review connection to Obama and Ms. Elizabeth Birnbaum and ask some hard questions?
Reply to this comment
by maistir May 27, 2010 8:15 PM EDT
It is like an amateur theatrical in the Dep't. of the Interior.

One day Ms. Birnbaum is at Sec'y. Salazar's side, and the next day she resigns? Because she was doing great things at the Interior Department, as Salazar claims? Because she didn't want to deliver her testimony about the Minerals Mgmt. Service?

Hopefully, the reporters will ask the Pres. again, when he has caught up with the news, what the heck is going on.
Reply to this comment
by orperspectiv May 27, 2010 6:32 PM EDT
Sharyl, why are you and the press corps "incredulous", when the president says "I found out about her resignation today, so I don't know the circumstances in which this occurred."

Birnbaum was scheduled to testify this morning, before a House committee, with Secretary Salazar. She didn't show up, and Slazar explained that she had submitted a letter of resignation. Asked about the resignation, Salazar told the committee that "She did it on her own terms and her own volition."

That information is all available through CBS. But none of that information is included in your story. Why not?

I suggests that Obama may not have known the details of the morning's minor news, but that you should have.
Reply to this comment
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