White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was unsurprised by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) suggestion that the long-running Benghazi investigation intentionally harmed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers.
“Leader McCarthy has committed the classic Washington gaffe,” Earnest said in a Wednesday press briefing, “of saying something that everybody already knows is true.”
McCarthy has been under fire from Democrats and members of his own party for his comments, which he made during a Tuesday night interview on the Fox News show “Hannity.” He described how the Benghazi special committee has helped tear down Clinton’s “unbeatable” position in the presidential race.
“Her numbers are dropping,” McCarthy said. “Because she’s untrustable [sic]. But no would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.”
Earnest’s comment riffs on the old line by journalist Michael Kinsley that “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth — some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”
