reposted for the second time today – third time overall. Would love to know where these go.
December 4, 2009
Discussion of the crashers and Desiree Rogers – whether she will testify, whether she invited herself to the State Dinner and who made the decision not to post anyone at the checkpoints. Note that the WH went back to the long-standing protocol of having someone at the checkpoints.
Gibbs gets nasty with April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks who gives it right back.
Not answered:
- Whether Ms Rogers was an invited guest per the president or whether she just added her name to the list. She was on the official list.
- Whether there was a request for pre-clearance of the Salahis.
- Who made the decision to not have anyone besides the SS at the checkpoints.
Answered: Rogers will not be attending the hearing.
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Q (28:00) And one other topic. Is Desiree Rogers going to go to Capitol Hill tomorrow and testify? She’s been invited. Has she made a decision?
GIBBS: No — well, first of all, I think that — obviously there’s an ongoing assessment and investigation by the Secret Service into what happened I guess a little more than a week ago. We are working with and are ready to work with anybody that has questions on that. I think you know that, based on the separation of powers, staff here don’t go to testify in front of Congress. She won’t — she will not be testifying in front of Congress tomorrow.
Let me add on to this. One of the — as the Secret Service has reviewed their security procedures for how people get into this complex, so, too, has the White House looked at its procedures.
Q So you guys have done your own review?
GIBBS: We have done an assessment.
Q But how –
GIBBS: Hold on, let me — you guys are impatient today. One of the things that — and I mentioned this yesterday in interviews that I did on all of your television shows — was that we would assess whether or not all of what we were doing was being done in support of what the Secret Service has to do as part of their mission of keeping this complex safe.
Last night was the first of many holiday parties that will happen in this complex over the next several weeks. We had staff at the security checkpoint to ensure that if there was any confusion about lists, those would be double-checked with somebody representing the Social Office. That was an assessment made based on something that we believed could have been added, and we’ve made those changes as of last night.
APRIL RYAN: Follow up, Robert, on that?
GIBBS: Yes, ma’am.
APRIL RYAN Has there been any concerns about Desiree Rogers’ performance prior to this instance?
GIBBS: No.
APRIL RYAN No one has questioned the President or told the President that she is a very last-minute person, poor planner?
GIBBS: No, I think you — you all have been to and seen, either whether you’re part of a pool, whether some of you have been to receptions, the remarkable work that they have done in pulling off a lot of events here. The First Family is quite pleased with her performance, and I’ve heard nothing uttered of what you talk about.
APRIL RYAN Well, what about the issues of her being in fashion spreads early on in the administration? Did you put the brakes on that? I mean, that is — it’s been raised, it’s now public, you saw it in the magazines, her pictorals. You saw her on the cover –
GIBBS: I get Sports Illustrated at my house. I don’t — I don’t get –
APRIL RYAN But could you talk — seriously, could you talk about that? I mean, was there a concern in this White House that she came out being — some might have called here the belle of the ball, overshadowing the First Lady at the beginning –
GIBBS: I don’t know who “some” are. I’ve never heard that.
APRIL RYAN Well, it’s been bantered around Washington, and it’s been in circles — Democratic circles as well as Republican circles, high-ranking people.
GIBBS: April, that’s not a station I live in in life –
APRIL RYAN — administrations as well.
GIBBS: No, I understand.
APRIL RYAN Just answer the question, please.
GIBBS: Are you done speaking so I can?
APRIL RYAN Oh, yes, I’m done now, yes.
GIBBS: Excellent. I’ve not heard any of that criticism. I’ve not read any of that criticism. The President, the First Lady, and the entire White House staff are grateful for the job that she does and think she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling off a lot of big and important events here at the White House.
APRIL RYAN Did she invite herself to the state dinner or was she a guest – did the President invite her, or did she put her — no, that’s a real — do not fan it off. I’m serious — no, seriously.
GIBBS: Jonathan.
APRIL RYAN: No, no, no, did she invite herself, or did the President ask her — her name was on that list, and social secretaries are the ones who put the names on the list. Did she invite herself or did the President –
GIBBS: Was she at the dinner? April, April, calm down. Just take a deep breath for one second. See? This happens with my son, he does the same thing.
Press corps: Oooh –
APRIL RYAN: Don’t play with me, I’m being serious. Do not blow it off.
GIBBS: And I’m giving you a serious answer. Was she at the dinner? Yes.
APRIL RYAN: Was she an invited guest?
GIBBS: She’s the social secretary. She had the primary –
APRIL RYAN: Social secretaries are not guests of the dinner.
GIBBS: She is the primary — for running the dinner. I’m going to get back to weightier topics like 98,000 men and women in Afghanistan.
Jonathan, take us away.
Q All right, April, please forgive me if I ask this question.
================
Ann (53:00)
Q To follow up on something — to clarify something earlier, did anyone in an office here at the White House in the days leading up to the India state visit request clearance information for the Salahis in case there was space available for them to attend the arrival ceremony?
GIBBS: I’m sorry, say that –
Q In the days leading up to the India state visit, did anyone at the White House request the actual clearance information for the Salahis in case –
GIBBS: Let me check with somebody.
Q Thank you, if you would.
GIBBS: Let me — this is what it looks like. [He holds up his invitation.]
Q We know.
Q Can I follow on that?
Q I’m asking –
GIBBS: No, hold on one second. But let me just — I think what’s important is, you’ve got to have an invitation to get into the White House.
Q You don’t bring your invitation to the door, though.
Q Sure you do.
Q You bring your driver’s license.
GIBBS: But if you don’t have one of these, you can’t get into the door, April. If you have a driver’s license but you didn’t have one of these then you weren’t at the dinner. You got to have one of these to get in the dinner. It’s an invitation.
ANN: Robert, just to confirm, my question is –
GIBBS: I’ll have somebody check this out.
ANN: — if they were under the impression they were being invited, if they could have gotten into –
GIBBS: Again, nobody would have let anybody into the — under the impression that they had been invited to the dinner because there was no –
Q I was asking about the Salahis.
GIBBS: All right, I will double-check.
[...]
Q Did Desirée Rogers– after she invited herself for the President?
GIBBS: I’m sorry?
Q Did Desirée Rogers get the invitation by inviting herself for the President –
GIBBS: I don’t know. This one says Robert Gibbs and he had a driver’s license and got in.
APRIL: Did she invite herself or did the President invite her?
GIBBS: It said the Honorable Robert — Sheryl, I’m sorry.
Q I just want to follow up on what you said earlier about that you’ve changed the practice and now a Social Secretary — a person from the office of –
GIBBS: A staff member representing the Social Secretary’s Office, yes.
Q — will be at the –
GIBBS: Yes.
Q So was that a decision made by the Social Secretary’s Office? In other words — or did the Secret Service make that call? Who determines –
GIBBS: That was based on an assessment and a review of our procedures made by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina.
Q Okay. And can I — just previously, when it was determined that it was not needed to have a Social Secretary representative at the gate, was that determination made by the Social Secretary’s Office or by the Secret Service?
GIBBS: I don’t know about previous decisions. I know Jim looked at whether we were doing enough to complement the work that the brave men and women do of the Secret Service in ensuring the protection of the President, his family, and, quite frankly, anybody that attends an event here, and decided that to ensure that we would add staff.
Q Right. But in administrations past there was a staff member there and then for this dinner there wasn’t. I’m just wondering who made that call.
GIBBS: I don’t know the answer.
[A daily refrain.]
