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White House Press Briefing by Tony Snow 3/22/07 (US Attorneys)
— Friday, March 23, 2007 — Q The cameras weren't on this morning. You came and said one of the big stumbling blocks is you don't want to see Karl Rove with his hand up in front of a bunch of cameras flashing. MR. SNOW: You bet. Q You don't want the -- MR. SNOW: While the cameras are on, I'll say the same thing. Q So then, your concern is about a public spectacle. MR. SNOW: Yes. ... Q Tony, you just said a moment ago you don't want a fight, but this morning you compared this drama, or whatever you want to call it, to "Boston Legal," "Law & Order." You've used words like "show trials," "klieg lights," "partisan fishing expedition." It seems like you have been spoiling for a fight, and you've been poisoning the well with that kind of rhetoric at the start, before -- MR. SNOW: Do you think that some Senate Democrats, when they talk about crimes, have been poisoning the well? I'll tell you what I was talking about, Ed. That was a rhetorical question, I apologize -- I know that's a sore spot. But the fact is, what I was talking about was a spectacle. And I still hold my characterizations of those things. The question is, do you want to have a dignified process, one that is going to demonstrate that in Washington senior political officials of both parties can act like grownups and get the nation's business done, so that you can conduct a good-faith inquiry into an issue that's interesting and important to people, and at the same time, also make that pivot to working on things like funding the troops. And I got to say, there are a lot of very constructive conversations going on right now about substantive matters that the President laid out in the State of the Union address -- education, immigration and energy right up at the front of that. So I think this is an opportunity to do those things. So those comments I've made were specifically targeted at the seeming hubbub designed to get certain White House officials -- usually Karl -- out in front a camera so that you can sort of create a sensation. What we'd rather do is just find the truth. Q Why haven't you moved on the transcript issue, though, then? This morning you were saying off-camera that you don't need an oath because if someone says something that's not true, they still could be prosecuted if they lie to Congress, essentially. MR. SNOW: Right. Well, again -- Q If there's no transcript, what U.S. attorney can actually go through and see what they said, if there's no record? MR. SNOW: I will let you -- you're asking a legal question that I would refer you either to the Department of Justice or to prosecutors, because they know the law. As you know, Ed, anybody who testifies before Congress, anybody that talks before Congress, is under an obligation to tell the truth, and if they don't, they're liable to legal punishment. White House Press Corps | Press Briefing | Tony Snow | News Media | Bush Administration | US Attorneys
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 12:11 AM
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