Gibbs on Sestak: ‘Nothing inappropriate’

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday that Republicans are “continuing to dredge up” allegations that Rep. Joe Sestak (D) was offered a job to stay out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. 

Sestak reiterated on “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he was offered an administration post, but Gibbs said he was “not going to get further into what the conversations were” with the congressman.

“I was offered a job and I answered that,” Sestak said on “Meet the Press,” refusing to get into detail about what was offered. “Anything that goes beyond that is for others to talk about.”

“Nothing inappropriate happened,” Gibbs said on CBS, stressing that White House lawyers had looked into the matter.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Sunday that he is not sure that the White House has to come forth about the controversy. 

Sestak ended up winning the primary over Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), but Republicans and the White House press corps have pressed for more information about the alleged offer.

“I don’t know that they do,” Kaine said when asked if the White House should come forth about the charges on ABC’s “This Week.”

On Fox, Kaine said that “if the question gets asked, that’s something the [White House] should deal with.”

Republicans have pushed comments Sestak made several months ago saying that the White House offered him an administration post to get out of the race with Specter, whom the White House supported.

If proven true, it could violate federal law and cause problems for Sestak’s candidacy. The White House has been silent on the issue recently, but said in March that it was not aware of any problematic gestures on its behalf.

Kaine said that Democrats are focused on getting Sestak elected.

“That’s rich!” RNC chairman Michael Steele shot back. “You don’t believe the White House has an obligation here to own up and answer a simple question: did you or did you not offer a member of the United States Congress a job to not run for office?”

On “Fox News Sunday,” Kaine said that he had not heard anything about the offer in his conversations with the White House but Steele called on the White House to unveil “What did the President offer and when did he offer it?”