Robert Gibbs Reveals: 'One of the First Things' White House Told Me Was Not to Acknowledge Drone Program Exists

AP

Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday he was ordered never to acknowledge the existence of the U.S. unmanned drone program by an administration that prided itself on transparency.

Gibbs said on MSNBC the still-secretive drone program meant he had to duck reporter questions he knew were perfectly accurate.

"One of the first things they told me was, you're not even to acknowledge the drone program, you are not even to discuss that it exists,” Gibbs said. "I would get a question like that...once I figured out it was about the drone program, I realized I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Here's what's inherently crazy about that proposition: you're being asked a question based on reporting of a program that exists, so you're the official government spokesperson acting as if, the entire program -- 'pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,'" he said.

Gibbs, who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, opined that the U.S.'s "denial of the existence of the program when it's obviously happening undermines people’s confidence overall in the decisions that their government makes."

(h/t Washington Examiner)

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