White House Gaggle

By Wendy Wang
June 30, 2005
Briefer: Scott McClellan

President’s Schedule:

President Bush had his usual briefings this morning and will discuss the upcoming G-8 Summit this morning at Freer Gallery Auditorium in Washington. Most of his remarks will pertain to his partnership with African countries. At 10:55 am, he will hold a round-table interview with members of the foreign press, including Denmark, AllAfrica.com, VOA and AFP. Steve Hadley will brief the press this afternoon about the upcoming trip of the president to the G-8 Summit. The president will meet this afternoon with the Secretary of State.

4th of July:

For the Independence Day celebration, the president will be traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia to make remarks before he returns to the White House to watch fireworks.

Staff Level Announcements:

McClellan announced that Fred Jones will be Special Assistant to the President and chief spokesperson for the National Security Council (NSC). Michelle Davis will be Deputy National Security Advisor for the NSC. Christian Silverberg will be Deputy Assistant to the President on foundation of White House apparatus, Assistant Secretary of State involved with UN AIDS policy reform.

Iran

Several questions were fired at Scott McClellan concerning the Iran president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his involvement in holding 52 American hostages in 1979. Pressed by the press corps, McClellan stated that the White House is taking the allegation seriously and will be "looking into them to better understand the facts". He stated that the White House will be investigating with the help of "others" and did not identify who the "others" will be. He would not say if the CIA was part of the "others". McClellan did say that there are a number of concerns with Iran as it is run by a few mullahs and that the White House’s immediate priority is the development of nuclear weapons in that country. When asked if the White House was unaware of Ahmadinejad’s past, McClellan stated that the President made comments on that to the London Times yesterday.

Mexican Stamp:

When questioned about a stamp issued in Mexico depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, McClellan stated that racial stereotypes are offensive no matter their origin. He said it has no place in today’s world.