David Axelrod hit back at allegations that the White House leaked classified national security secrets on Wednesday, one day after Mitt Romney's indictment of the leaks.
Romney blasted the president's foreign policy in a searing speech on Tuesday. The presumptive Republican nominee stopped short of accusing the president of disclosing sensitive information to the New York Times, but charged that he was putting politics above national security and demanded an independent investigation. "This conduct is contemptible," he said of the leaks.
On Wednesday's "Morning Joe," co-host Joe Scarborough pressed Axelrod on the leaks. "Can the president guarantee us that it wasn't him, first of all, and second that these leaks will stop?" he asked. Later, he charged, "It is very obvious the White House is leaking classified information."
Axelrod disputed those allegations. "Well Joe, I can tell you the president of the United States did not leak classified information, as Mitt Romney suggested yesterday, didn't authorize the leak of classified information," he responded. He said that the allegations were merely a "diversion" on Romney's part.
Speaking on "CBS This Morning," Axelrod also called Romney's charges "a bunch of bellicose bloviating” and said that Romney's criticism of Obama's foreign policy was "nonsense."
The top campaign adviser has publicly denied the White House's involvement in the leaks before. an idea that Obama also called "offensive." In June, New York Times scoops prompted calls from lawmakers to root out the source of the leaks. Attorney general Eric Holder has appointed two prosecutors to lead the investigation.
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