President Obama spoke to reporters briefly Friday after he met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss the expiring PATRIOT Act. He did not take any questions from reporters. The effort did not impress CNN’s The Lead anchor Jake Tapper.
"I have covered President Obama since he was Senator Obama. I’ve seen him campaign for himself, for other people, seen him campaign for legislation," Tapper said. "This Is the selling job for something he says is vital to protect American people? A pool spray on Friday afternoon?"
The president has insisted that the Senate pass the USA Freedom Act that passed easily through the House. A number of senators, however, have complained that the bill does not do enough to limit the government’s ability to keep metadata for the sake of finding and catching terrorists, calling it an invasion of citizens’ privacy.
"I really don't understand," Tapper said. "They have the tools: head of the CIA, head of the National Security Agency, head of the Director of National Intelligence. All of these people, Loretta Lynch, who could be on television all day, all week, talking about the need for these programs and I haven't seen them."
