Why does the White House even have a press room?Q Would the President seek an explicit green light from Congress if he intended to bomb or attack Iran, or does he think he has that right?
MS. PERINO: Well, Helen, there is no intention of bombing Iran. We are on a diplomatic track. We are working with our partners, the U.N. Security Council. We have provided them, the Iranians, a road map to get to a civil nuclear program. They have walked away from that. We are hoping that they'll come back. We are both working with our U.N. Security Council partners as well as pursuing sanctions on our own, and there is not an intention to bomb Iran, as you said.
Q Does the President think he has the right to do it without going through Congress?
MS. PERINO: That is -- it's a hypothetical situation, Helen. I'm not going to answer it.
Q It's not hypothetical. It's concrete.
MS. PERINO: Go ahead. Sarah.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Green light, red light
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Uh oh... It's 'you're doin' a heckovajob' time
It will be just Laura and Barney in the end, won't it?QUESTION: Dana, does Attorney General Gonzales's testimony on Capitol Hill have any bearing whatsoever on his job status?
MS. PERINO: As I've said many times, the President has full confidence in the Attorney General. The Attorney General looked forward to the hearing that is taking place right now. Of course, the President has not seen any of that testimony. As I told you, he's had a busy morning, and now we're on our way to Tipp City, Ohio. And I haven't seen any of the testimony, either. But clearly, we would hope that there were no preconceived notions, or canned talking points that the senators had in mind before they had this hearing. They said they wanted to get to the facts, and I'm sure that the Attorney General will be fully responsive to their request.
Q: So is it fair to say that no matter what the testimony, no matter what the back-and-forth, that the President plans to stick with Attorney General Gonzales?
MS. PERINO: I think -- yes. I think the President has full confidence in the Attorney General and whenever that changes for any public servant, we'll let you know, and I see no indication of that.
Q: Are you concerned that pressure is building on Paul Wolfowitz? There was a report yesterday that his deputy suggested in a private meeting that he step down.
MS. PERINO: As we've said before, the President has confidence in Paul Wolfowitz, Mr. Wolfowitz had apologized, and that the review board -- the board was undergoing a review, and that that was appropriate to let them finish that, because they're an independent agency -- let that process take place.