White House Gaggle

By Recardo Gibson
October 8, 2003

The President had his usual briefings this morning. At 3pm he will make remarks on domestic violence prevention and sign a proclamation for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Later on today there will be an additional meeting on the wartime supplemental with bipartisan members of the House Appropriations Committee. This evening the President will speak at the 2003 Republican National Committee’s Presidential Gala.

California Recall Election

In response to questions about the California recall results, Scott McClellan stated that the President thought the recall was interesting to observe and he declared that the recall was to be decided by the people of California, "and the people have spoken." McClellan also said that President Bush looks forward to working with governor elect Schwarzenegger. When asked if Schwarzenegger and the President can work together with their ideological differences, Scott avoided the question and said the main focus of the administration is to continue to work on "the people’s business." The President will be making a trip to California later this month, but there is no word if he will meet with the new governor.

CIA leak investigation

Scott restated that career officials in the Justice Department are conducting the ongoing investigation, and he doesn’t want to compromise the integrity of the investigation by saying too much. There was a question asked about the suspicious move by the administration to screen the information before giving it to the Department of Justice. Scott responded that it is a standard practice for the Council’s Office to be the point of contact to collect and send the information to Justice Department as requested. McClellan insisted that the administration is here to assist in the investigation and not stifle it. He assured that the Council’s Office will move as soon as possible to get the information to the Department of Justice.