Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that the White House offered him a job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary race against Arlen Specter is a crime that could lead to the impeachment of President Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa said. 
 
 But the decision by the Pennsylvania congressman not to elaborate on a so-called deal also could become a political problem as Sestak tries for the U.S. Senate seat. 
 
 The White House reportedly is going to formally address the allegation in the next few days. In the meantime, Issa, R-Calif., is one of many inside and outside Washington who want the Democratic Senate primary candidate to explain in detail what offer the White House made. 
 
 "It's very clear that allegation is one that everyone from Arlen Spector to Dick Morris has said is in fact a crime, and could be impeachable," said Issa, who is threatening to file an ethics compliant if Sestak doesn't provide more details about the alleged job offer. 
 
 Sestak, a former vice admiral in the Navy, first alleged in February that the White House offered him a high-ranking position in the administration last summer if he would sit out the primary against Specter, who won the backing of the White House and state Democratic leaders for switching parties. 
 
 The allegation is considered one of the factors that helped him defeat Specter, who was viewed as unscrupulous in doing whatever he could to keep his seat, including changing his party to win White House support for an uphill re-election battle. 
 
 But now, Sestak has to go into the general election, where his opponent, former Republican Rep. Pat Toomey, is willing to use the topic as referendum on both Sestak's and Obama's credibility. 
 
 "Congressman Sestak should tell the public everything he knows about the job he was offered, and who offered it," Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey said in a written statement. "To do otherwise will only continue to raise questions and continue to be a needless distraction in this campaign." 
 
 And Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a close ally of the president, said Sestak can't continue to lay out the charge without backing it up. 
 
 "At some point, Congressman Sestak needs to make it clear what happened," he said. 
 
 Issa said this allegation is bigger than the Senate race. 
 
 "For Joe Sestak, he can dance around it and he may or may not be a senator," he said. "But for the White House, this problem's not going away. Adm. Sestak is in fact a very reliable source." 
 
 Ann Marie McAvoy, a former federal prosecutor, said the White House could have a problem on its hands depending on what the facts show. 
 
 "If they were simply offering him a job because they thought he was a qualified person for it and there was no request made that he in essence drop out of the race, it would be different," she told Fox News. "This is why there really needs to be an in depth investigation. There needs to be witness interviews and so on to figure out what happened, who said what, what were the other circumstances surrounding it." 
 
 Issa has called on the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor but Attorney General Eric Holder has said that won't be necessary. 
 
 "We assure you that the Department of Justice takes very seriously allegations of criminal conduct by public officials," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich told Issa in a letter. "All such matters are reviewed carefully by career prosecutors and law enforcement agents, and appropriate action, if warranted, is taken." 
 
 Weich said a special prosecutor won't be needed because the Justice Department "has a long history of handling investigations of high level officials professionally and independently, without the need to appoint a special counsel." 
 
 But McAvoy said any allegation of wrongdoing shouldn't be left to the Justice Department to decide. 
 
 "Someone in the administration had this conversation which means that would be the person mostly likely who committed the crime if there is a crime," she said. "So you have the people who are representing the people who potentially committed the crime are making the determinations as to whether anything wrong happened. That's not the way it's supposed to happen." 
 
 Issa compared any potential cover-up to the Watergate scandal of the Nixon era.the White House Tuesday of a cover up similar to the Watergate scandal. 
 
 "It's not about what was done wrong. It's about the cover up," Issa told Fox News. "And right now, there's a cover up going on at the White House 10 weeks after the allegation." ||||| Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that the White House offered a job to Rep. Joe Sestak to drop out of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. 
 
 The Republicans, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member of the panel, sent a letter to Holder on Wednesday, asking the Justice Department to investigate the Sestak claim and determine whether a crime was committed. House Republicans have made a similar request, and were rebuffed by Justice. 
 
 Sestak, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) last week for the party's Senate nomination. Since then, Sestak has continually deflected questions on who offered him what job in the Obama administration, although he has repeatedly confirmed that the incident did occur. 
 
 Seeking a chance to pick up the Pennsylvania Senate seat, Republicans have pressed both Sestak and the White House to provide more information on the incident, which took place sometime in mid-2009, according to Sestak. 
 
 The Justice Department has already rejected a call from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Sestak incident. 
 
 Issa has also threatened to file a complaint with House ethics committee against Sestak if the Pennsylvania Democrat declines to offer more information on what occurred and who made the job offer. Sestak has repeatedly declined to identify the White House official. 
 
 Senate Judiciary Republicans, in their letter to Holder, said that that if Sestak were telling the truth about the job offer, it could “suggest a possible violation of various federal criminal laws intended to safeguard our political process from the taint of bribes and political machine manipulation.” 
 
 The GOP lawmakers also claim the White House cannot adequately investigate while simultaneously denying the incident occured. 
 
 Calls are increasing for Sestak to come clean about who in the White House offered him what job. 
 
 Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, originally a Specter supporter, said Wednesday that the White House and Sestak should provide more information on what happened. Rendell joins some other Democrats, including Senatge Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), on pressing Sestak to open up about the incident. 
 
 “I think both he and the White House should tell people a little more clearly what happened and then put it behind them,” Rendell told POLITICO. 
 
 Rendell said did not believe having someone in the White House offer Sestak a job was a violation of federal law or ethics rules. 
 
 “Stuff like this has been going on for time immemorial,” Rendell added. Rendell said he told former Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-Pa.) not to run against GOP Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006, which helped Democrat Bob Casey. Casey went on to beat Santorum in Nov. 2006. 
 
 “I did it when Joe Hoeffel was considering running for Senate in the Democratic primary against Bob Casey,” Rendell said. 
 
 “I called Joe, and I said, ‘Joe, the polls show that Casey has a better chance to win. If you run against him in the primary, it will suck money away, and Santorum is gonna have lots of money. I’d like you not to run and I love what you’ve done governmentally, and if you want to stay in government, I’m sure that we can find something that can challenge you in state government.’ That’s not against the law, and it’s been done by Republicans and Democrats for time immemorial. They [the White House and Sestak] should say what happened and move on.”
– Republicans are calling for the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Sestak's claims that someone in the Obama administration offered him a high-ranking job to drop out of the Pennsylvania primary race against Arlen Specter. And they've already used the “I” word. “It's very clear that allegation is one that everyone from Arlen Specter to Dick Morris has said is in fact a crime, and could be impeachable,” Rep. Darrel Issa tells Fox News. The Justice Department rejected Issa's request for a special prosecutor last week, but Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans sent their own request yesterday, according to Politico. Sestak has repeatedly confirmed that someone offered him a job, but refused to say who or what job. Issa's threatened to file an ethics complaint if he does not open up on the matter. Democrat Dick Durbin actually agrees on that point. “At some point, Congressman Sestak needs to make it clear what happened,” he said.