White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he didn't know whether former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel ever told Attorney General Eric Holder to "shut the f--- up" about guns during Tuesday's press briefing.
JAKE TAPPER: According to the quote by Danielle Klaidman from Newsweek, The Daily Beast, in his book about the Obama administration — in the first year of the Obama administration, Attorney General Holder was going to take action on regulating guns. And the president’s chief of staff told him to shut up — he actually — he added a couple of words in there — about guns, the issue being the fact that there were a number of Democrats in vulnerable districts where gun rights were popular, that would — politically, it was not wise. Does the president know about this? Does the president regret that that took place?CARNEY: Well, I –TAPPER: Has Attorney General Holder been told since Aurora or Fort Hood, or the Sikh temple or Newtown or any of the other many, many shootings that have taken place while Mr. Obama’s been president, has Mr. Holder been told to resume what he was planning on doing before the White House chief of staff told him to stop?CARNEY: Well, that’s an anecdote that I’m not familiar with, as — though I — you know, I know the author, I confessed from the podium that I didn’t read his book. But the, uh,TAPPER: Does that mean it didn’t happen?CARNEY: I am not — I don’t know, and — so I certainly haven’t had a discussion with the president about it.