Who Runs Gov

Politicoes are buzzing today about a report saying that Rahm Emanuel made a rather outlandish-sounding threat against Dem Rep Steve Israel to dissuade him from mounting a primary against New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who took over for Hillary.

The report said Rahm made it very clear to the Congressman in a private meeting that the White House would use all its power to defeat him, and that Obama would aggressively campaign against Israel in New York City’s black neighborhoods in order to ensure his defeat. This sort of race-tinged party bossism from Obama would be surprising on many levels, obviously.

It turns out, however, that Rahm never made the threat, according to Israel’s chief of staff, Jack Pratt. He says he got the denial straight from the Congressman himself. “It’s just not true,” Pratt told me.

Pratt said that he had been standing outside the room during the conversation at the White House between Israel and Rahm, and that there was no staff inside.

Pratt did confirm, however, that the White House did signal that they wanted Israel to steer clear of a primary — but that the meeting didn’t carry any real suggestion of bigfooting or threats.

“The idea that Rahm would threaten Steve, that’s not the way their relationship goes — they’re friends,” Pratt said. “They did convey pretty effectively that [the White House] was going to support the incumbent. But it was more, `In the interests of party unity, here are the reasons you’d be better off doing something else.’”

So maybe there’s a hint of bossism here. But just a hint.

Update: The editor of the Rahm piece emails that the publication is standing by the story, claiming it’s “fully-sourced and vetted” and “relies on multiple conversations” with people who heard the story straight from the Congressman. Read the full response here.

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