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 Whatever Confusion Might Exist - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 4/21/09 — Wednesday, April 22, 2009 —  Q It sounded as though the President took a somewhat different policy today than his Chief of Staff did on Sunday regarding possible prosecution of those who devised the policies. The President said today, regarding those who'd formulated these legal decisions, that that's more of a decision for the Attorney General. And Rahm Emanuel said on Sunday, for those who devised the policy, he -- being the President -- believes they should not be prosecuted. Is that a shift in position?MR. GIBBS: Well, let's -- instead of referring to what anybody might have said, I think it's important -- or anything that I might have said -- it's important to refer to what the President said, and what he said over the course of many months, in all honestly, because this dates back to questions that has received in press conferences or even during the transition, and that is, very much as he said -- reiterated today, that he says as a general deal, I think we should be looking forward and not backward. The President has also said he does not believe that people are above the rule of law. And the President stated accurately that any determination as to whether a law was broken would rightly be made not by the President but by the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. Q But it did seem like a sound -- at least a difference in tone, if not policy, by particularly saying the Attorney General would be the most likely one to look at those who devise a policy. That sounds different from what he has said in the past, where he always talked about let's just move forward -- MR. GIBBS: Well, again -- Q -- and in fact, Rahm Emanuel -- MR. GIBBS: Well, again, whatever confusion might exist, I think it's important -- again, the President said throughout the campaign that he would leave determinations on science in his administration to scientists; that he would leave determinations about the law to those in the Justice Department. And I think he reiterated that today, that people aren't above the law. I do think it's important to make a distinguishing -- to distinguish exactly what the President said last week. The President believes and was assured by the Justice Department that those that have acted in good faith on what they believed was legal won't be prosecuted. The President still believes that. Yes, ma'am. Q Robert, I just want to follow up on Chuck's question, because it does seem that there is a shift there. Because if you look at what the President said today, he said, with regard to those who formulated the legal decisions, he said that that was a decision for the Attorney General, and he said he didn't want to prejudge that. But Rahm Emanuel on Sunday said that those who devise the policy, he believes that they should -- that they were -- should not be prosecuted either, so -- MR. GIBBS: Well, to clear up any confusion on anything that might have been said, I would point you to what the President said. Q Did he have a change of heart on this issue over the last few days? Is he -- MR. GIBBS: No, I think the President, as I said, you can date back to the -- I think was asked, at least I recall it being asked in the transition -- and discussed the rule of law, that nobody in the country is above that rule of law. Q And just on the issue of a further accounting, which he talked about today and which Chuck also asked you about, is he actively considering a 9/11-type of panel? Is he -- MR. GIBBS: No, I think -- Q -- it seemed like he was trying to get at something like that, he said that he would like to see something outside of the hearing process. MR. GIBBS: Well, I think he was asked, if something were to be set up, how would it be set up. How would -- Q Right. But wouldn't he be the one to set it up? MR. GIBBS: Not necessarily. I'm reminded that Congress has a pretty big say in something like that, given their ability and their lawmaking power. Q Is he conferring with people on that? MR. GIBBS: I will check if it's something that's active. Again, the President's position is to look forward. If there are those that want to look back, I think the President strongly believes that anything has to be done in a way that doesn't, as he said today, doesn't overly politicize and hamper either the ability of anybody involved to carry out the functions of their job or the functions that protect our country. Yes, sir. Q Robert, what changed over the last 24 hours, though? Because yesterday you were flat in saying that we're not going there, as Rahm was on Sunday. And in the last 24 hours we've seen groups like moveon.org on the left come out and write a petition to the Attorney General saying they want accountability from the Bush administration. Is this an example of this White House giving in to pressure from the left? MR. GIBBS: I don't -- I have not, and I doubt the President has been on moveon.org in the last 24 hours, so, no. Q Okay. But then why was Rahm so firm on Sunday, and you were firm yesterday in this very room; what changed? MR. GIBBS: Again, to clear up any of the confusion, I would simply say that the President reiterated that there is -- that, as he said, his general posture is to look forward, and that at the same time, nobody is above the law. Q Why would there be any confusion, as you call it? I don't understand. This is a pretty straightforward topic. MR. GIBBS: Well, I predicated your question then posited some confusion with acknowledgment. Q Did you misspeak? Or did Rahm misspeak? MR. GIBBS: You know, I -- whether or not anybody was confused or misspoke, I would take what the President said as -- I'm informed he got more votes than either of the two of us. Q Can I follow on -- Vice President Cheney yesterday weighed in on this and said he found it disturbing that the President put these memos out. And he also is charging, if you can answer, that this White House basically selectively declassified some of these torture memos, and that there are other memos somewhere in the CIA that would show that the interrogation actually yielded what the former Vice President would call good intelligence that prevented terror attacks. How do you answer that? MR. GIBBS: Well, I would suggest that you contact the CIA. You might be -- Q Well, they're not about to turn these over to me or anyone else in this room? MR. GIBBS: Including me. (Laughter.) Q But if the President wanted to declassify it, he could. He just declassified it -- MR. GIBBS: Yes, I would -- Q So the question is, are there other memos that you're keeping under wraps? MR. GIBBS: And I just said, I don't know. Again, that's why I would -- I know sometimes when I ask you to contact the agencies with the wherewithal to answer your questions, you think that I'm not answering your question. But as you just said, they're not going to give them to you, they're coincidentally not going to give them to me. And I think the best place to ask about their existence is the CIA. Attorney General | Bush Administration | Interrogation | Obama Administration | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Attorney General, Bush Administration, Interrogation, Obama Administration, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:08 PM
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