Last week in response to the exploding controversy about the NSA leaks, and the revelations the NSA is tracking, monitoring, collecting and housing the personal communication of American citizens, President Obama said on Friday that “every member of congress is aware of the NSA intelligence gathering, and has been briefed”.

On its face that was an absurd statement. Patently false in construct. Which led to dozens of members of congress, both Democrats and Republicans, disputing such a claim by the administration. It was simply a blatantly false claim.

Today, when questioned about that specific false claim by President Obama, Jay Carney said this: