Former White House adviser and current MSNBC analyst David Axelrod on Friday pressed Bob Woodward on whether he really felt threatened by Obama administration official Gene Sperling.
“The headline in the Washington Post, your newspaper, was Woodward says that he was threatened by the White House,” Axelrod said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“But I never have. Come on. You know that. No,” Woodward said.
(The headline on the Washington Post actually read: “Woodward vs. White House: Washington at its weirdest.”)
“They got the impression, from what you said, that you felt you were being threatened,” Axelrod continued. “And you just read to the Politico one line from that email. And when the full emails came out they were as cordial as can be. His email was cordial, and your response was cordial. So if you felt threatened, why didn’t you say to Gene, don’t threaten me?
“No, I did not feel threatened,” Woodward responded. “What I have said, David, and come on, you are making, putting words in my mouth. I said I don’t think this is the way to operate. And you and I have had many discussions. You’ve never said to me, Oh, you’re going to regret doing that, am I correct?”
“Yes, but this was a specific discussion about a specific point you had raised,” Axelrod said. “It seemed like Gene was, in that email, certainly was very, very polite in the way that he pushed back on that. I’m not putting words in your mouth, Bob. It’s your newspaper that said you said you were threatened.”
Watch the exchange:
