Presidential spokesman Josh Earnest downplayed suggestions that the White House is coordinating with Hillary Clinton on her expected campaign for president.
While he acknowledged being in touch with Clinton’s team on a “couple of occasions” on the email issue, he said he is unaware of more substantive conversations on overall strategy or policy issues.
While traveling on Air Force One with the president to Cleveland on Wednesday, reporters asked whether news that Clinton had tapped Justice Department Communications Director Brian Fallon as her campaign spokesman meant that the White House and Clinton were in close touch and coordinating their strategies.
Earnest praised the “excellent job” Fallon has done at Justice, and said, “I’m sure he will do a terrific job at whatever he chooses to do next.”
If Clinton makes the decision to run for president, Earnest said Clinton and Obama share many priorities that would be obvious during her campaign.
“I’m confident that the kinds of values that she has fought for throughout her career will be the kinds of values that she will give voice to in the context of her campaign,” he said. “And if that’s the case, if all that comes about, I’m confident there will be a lot of agreement between the priorities that she articulates and the kinds of priorities that this president has been fighting for for the last six years.”
