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Chuck Todd: Obama Didn't Want To Go Public With Syrian Chemical Weapons Evidence

by Noel Sheppard

NBC's Chuck Todd made some stunning statements Sunday about recent revelations concerning Syria's use of chemical weapons on its people.

Appearing on Meet the Press, Todd first said the Administration regrets President Obama's claim that this would be a "red line" adding "They didn't want to go public last week that they had this early evidence" and only did so because "they knew Congress was going to get this briefing and it was all going to get out" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHUCK TODD: I can tell you there is regret about that red line comment because…

DAVID GREGORY, HOST: In the White House?

TODD: In the White House in this respect. You don't draw, I mean, they meant it. They do mean it on the chemical weapons, but saying it creates this political conversation. They didn't want to go public last week that they had this early evidence yet. They weren't ready. And yet they knew Congress was going to get this briefing and it was all going to get out.

So they decided to go public with it last week because they felt they had no choice, that it was all going to start leaking out. You had the Israelis, you had the British intelligence. But they're not ready. There is no good answer. The Gulf States, and the big difference between here and Libya, by the way, is in Libya you had the Arab community, the Arab League on the record saying we gotta stop this. The Arab League has been quiet on this, and I think the United States would like to see that first before we jump in.

So the Administration would have preferred to have kept this information from the American people.

Isn't it interesting how cavalierly Todd made this claim?

Would he been so nonchalant about the White House preferring to withhold such information from the public if there were a Republican in the Oval Office?