White House: No Way Gene Sperling Was Threatening Woodward

White House press secretary Jay Carney gestures during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb., 28, 2013.
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White House press secretary Jay Carney on Thursday came to the defense of Obama administration economic adviser Gene Sperling, who told Bob Woodward recently that he would regret his sequestration reporting. 

Carney said Sperling’s tone with Woodward was “incredibly respectful.”

“You cannot read those emails and come away with the impression Gene was threatening anybody,” Carney said. 

Woodward made waves on Wednesday after he revealed that a White House official told him he would regret his reporting. On Thursday, Politico revealed the emails to be cordial and tame. Sperling began his email to Woodward by apologizing for raising his voice in an earlier question. Later, he said, “I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

Carney also said he has “enormous respect for the work that Bob Woodward is famous for.” But “we had a factual disagreement that I think we stand by, which is that the President was very clear, from the beginning, that he would push balanced deficit reduction.”

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