June 21, 2010 3:41 PM

Who's Lying? White House Denies Kyl's Immigration Story

By
Chip Reid
Topics
White House ,
Domestic Issues ,
Obama Administration

Somebody's not telling the truth - and it happened in the Oval Office. Sounds like a good mystery that the press corps would just love to solve. My guess, though, is it will remain forever a case of he said/he said.

It started last week when Republican Sen. Jon Kyl said at a town hall in Tempe, Ariz. that during a recent private meeting in the Oval Office the president said: "The problem is, if we secure the border, then you all won't have any reason to support 'comprehensive immigration reform.'" In other words, Kyl said, the president is holding border security hostage to comprehensive reform.

It's getting alot of attention on YouTube - you can hear people in the audience gasp when Kyl makes the claim. And there's a lot of outrage in the conservative blogosphere.

I asked Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton (subbing for Robert Gibbs) about it today at the briefing. "Kyl knows the president didn't say that," Burton said. He would not say exactly what it was the president DID say (Burton said he was not present at the meeting), and he deflected a question about whether Kyl lied.

Afterward Kyl's office said the senator is sticking to his guns.

Any way to resolve this? Unfortunately, no, unless one of the two people in the Oval Office that day recants. Fat chance of that.

Burton said private, one-on-one meetings in the Oval really are just that - no White House stenographer, no top aide taking notes.

And Burton confirmed on the record what White House reporters have openly wondered about since the days of Richard Nixon: There is NOT, Burton insisted, a recording system in the Oval Office.

Darn.

On the other hand, and sorry to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but if there were, would he even know?

Chip Reid is CBS News' chief White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.


  • Chip Reid

    Chip Reid is CBS News' national correspondent.

Add a Comment See all 88 Comments
by Pearleman June 30, 2010 1:21 AM EDT
We've had amnesties in the past where the promise was after each amnesty then finally immigration law would be enforced. The promise of immigration law enforcement is the standard lie dangled in order to get support for amnesty.

If Obama wants to prove that it is Senator Kyl and not Barack who is lying then all Obama has to do is what he so far refuses to do: Build a massive multi-layer wall along the US border with Mexico and stop all illegal crossings. Then do vigorous interior enforcement of immigration law. He does not need "comprehensive immigration reform" to enforce the law.
Reply to this comment
by skrilla82 June 27, 2010 3:23 PM EDT
The fact of the matter is that even with immigration reform, legalizing illegals, and giving them opportunities to become citizens, the US - Mexican border will still be open. This is obviously and issue, and I don't believe that local law enforcement should go to work everyday wondering if some drug lord henchmen will kill them. The border, from California to Texas, needs to be sealed. More resources need to be allocated for border patrol, whether it be technological or human.
Reply to this comment
by Perish1 June 26, 2010 1:06 PM EDT
Obama and his administration have not been honest about anything since he was elected and even before. With such a track record of being a total liar, why would anyone even dispute that he is lying here also!
Reply to this comment
by pokey5735 June 22, 2010 10:20 PM EDT
Anyone, I mean anyone who would believe Obama on anything has to be brain dead!
This incompetent, thin skinned, little boy, needs to be impeached! His aspirations are to be a dictator and destroy this country and he is trying very hard to prevail!
Reply to this comment
by jgg000101 June 22, 2010 6:48 PM EDT
let's see: the cornhusker kickback, the louisiana purchase, the blago trial, the sestak and romanoff investigations. I wonder who's lying. Ask yourself who has the checkered history and who has more to gain by lying and you'll find the answer.
Reply to this comment
by mensarino June 22, 2010 8:52 PM EDT
I have trouble believing republicans.My money is on Obama to be telling the truth.
by Cujo47 June 22, 2010 12:51 PM EDT
Well, let's see. Who do I think is mostly likely the liar here? Hmm, We have been listening to Obama lie to us now for about a year and a half. That seems to me a pretty silly question but since politicians are born liars one would be inclined to think a little on this one. But the evidence is in our faces of who is probably the biggest liar of all since we no longer believe what this fraud that is our President is saying now. His track record is catching up with him. The man is simply no longer credible.
Reply to this comment
by bamio June 22, 2010 12:30 AM EDT
Obamie has lied to us SO SO many times, of course he's lying now. Obamie promised to close Gitmo by Jan 2010, a lie. Obamie promised to have all US troops out of Iraq by Aug 1 2010, a lie. Obamie promised bipartisan government, another lie. Obamie promised 3MM MORE American jobs, he;s delivered 2MM FEWER, another lie.

When it comes to lying, Obamie is the creme de la creme!!!!
Reply to this comment
by YenFang23 June 22, 2010 4:10 AM EDT
he didn't lie...ur so ignorant , u never read the news hah??? I pity all ignorant people like you, he can't get it done you know why??? because he can't get the vote , he can't even get a debate...read the news , the right wing separatist always block his plan, I mean he could just veto all of it , but he want it to be a BIPARTISAN GOVERNMENT...THINK ABOUT IT... DON'T LET YOUR PRIDE DECEIVE YOU...THINK...THINK ...THINK!!!!! DON'T BE IGNORANT...IF YOU LOVE THIS COUNTRY...FIND THE SOLUTION!!!!
by user000049586849302948602 June 22, 2010 7:00 AM EDT
I see. Because Obama said that he intended to do something and, due to repuglitard, "we want Obama to fail" obstruction, it hasn't happened yet, that means he's a liar.

You're the liar, racial hatred and bigotry talibagger guy.
See all 5 Replies
by buudy1 June 21, 2010 11:58 PM EDT
If John McCain is influencing Kyl which I suspect, there's no doubt that Kyl is the one lying. Jon Kyl's boss and cohort John McCain is the biggest liar in the senate. Besides both McCain & Kyl are being their hypocritical selves. In AZ they're both are loud vocal supporters of AZ's immigration bill. But yet in Washington both of these two buffoons are against any federal immigration bill. Sounds to me that they're nothing more than trouble making, lying hypocrites. All these years of John McCain lying, and his dirty underhanded politics had finally caught up to him. I really feel that McCain will lose in the primary or the general election, if he even makes it that far. The way it looks now, McCain is going to take Kyl down with him in defeat.
Reply to this comment
by macgerson June 21, 2010 11:55 PM EDT
How do you tell Obama is lying.
Wrong!
He can lie w/o moving his lips.
And I campaigned for him.
Reply to this comment
by buudy1 June 21, 2010 11:59 PM EDT
Nobody lies like John McCain
by nolieshere June 21, 2010 10:04 PM EDT
Republicans don't have a very good record of telling the truth. I think they must know something that I don't know, though. They claim to be christians and then lie... are they lying about being christians, or are they christians that lie??
Reply to this comment
by jimatmadison June 21, 2010 10:29 PM EDT
Yes.
by NWjoe June 22, 2010 7:15 AM EDT
Why should Christians have any problem lying? They've already been forgiven for all their sins, so now it's anything goes.
See all 88 Comments
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