Did Obama Flip Flop on Prosecuting Bush Officials?

At the briefing today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs downplayed any policy shift on the White House in regards to whether Bush administration officials should face charges for authoring harsh interrogation techniques. (Look! We’re not using torture either!) This morning, President Obama left the door open for charges, saying it was Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision. But as many reporters are pointing out, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said something entirely different on Sunday, insisting that Obama did not want to bring charges against the Bush folks. Here’s the transcript from Emanuel’s appearance on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Final quick question. The president has ruled out prosecutions for CIA officials who believed they were following the law. Does he believe that the officials who devised the policies should be immune from prosecution?

EMANUEL: What he believes is, look, as you saw in that statement he wrote, and I would just take a step back. He came up with this and he worked on this for about four weeks, wrote that statement Wednesday night, after he made his decision, and dictated what he wanted to see. And Thursday morning, I saw him in the office, he was still editing it. He believes that people in good faith were operating with the guidance they were provided. They shouldn't be prosecuted.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What about those who devised policy?

EMANUEL: Yes, but those who devised policy, he believes that they were -- should not be prosecuted either, and that's not the place that we go -- as he said in that letter, and I would really recommend people look at the full statement -- not the letter, the statement -- in that second paragraph, "this is not a time for retribution." It's time for reflection. It's not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back and any sense of anger and retribution. We have a lot to do to protect America. What people need to know, this practice and technique, we don't use anymore. He banned it.

Asked about the contradiction, Gibbs advised reporters to refer only to what Obama himself said. Asked if Emanuel misspoke, Gibbs didn’t answer, again referring reporters to Obama's statement.