John McCain made fresh allegations against the White House on Wednesday, pointing to a 2009 meeting between the New York Times' David Sanger and national security officials.
The senator has been vocal in his charges that the Obama administration leaked classified secrets to the Times for political gain. McCain has demanded an independent investigation into the leaks.
Politico reports that he renewed that call in a speech on Wednesday. He suggested that a 2009 meeting described in Sanger's book supported his allegations.
Sanger was one of several journalists at a meeting with Rahm Emanuel during the G-20 summit. He was reportedly approached by National Security Agency officials, and published a scoop about a secret Iranian nuclear site hours before Obama announced it.
As Politico notes, however, the incident wasn't a case of the White House leaking sensitive national security information to the media. The intelligence about the site was not classified, and was made public the next day.
According to another report from the site, Sanger had also written about his initial suspicions in a previous book and that he had questioned officials about the possibility of such a site earlier that day.
The White House has vehemently denied any role in the leaks, and Obama condemned the allegations in June. Meanwhile, attorney general Eric Holder has appointed two prosecutors to lead the investigation on the leaks.
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