Axelrod Tries to ‘Evade’ Answering What Obama Meant By Telling Russia He Would ‘Have More Flexibility’ After Election

Asked about President Obama’s comment in the summer to then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that he would “have more flexibility” after the election, David Axelrod first tried to dispute that the comment had occurred as phrased in the question, saying on Meet the Press, “I don’t know that he said ‘flexible.’”

After being told that Obama had said “have more flexibility,” Axelrod tried to dodge the question. Saying he didn’t know what Obama had meant by the sentence, Axelrod added, “I never asked him about that . . . but let me slide over and evade your question and . . .”

But when he was put on the spot again, Axelrod has little in the way of explanation. “Look, I think that it’s clear that when you’re in the middle of an election campaign, whoever you are, you have less flexibility.”