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 Whether To Prosecute - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 4/23/09 — Friday, April 24, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: Steve.Q Robert, as you said, it's up to the Justice Department, not the White House, to decide whether there were crimes committed and whether to prosecute. Will the White House -- MR. GIBBS: Let me say -- let me -- I want to rephrase it. I haven’t said that. Well, I have said that, but that's what -- that's the legal system that's set up in this country. I mean, I -- what I said -- I didn't say that in terms of setting this doctrine up, right? Like if you drive 85 miles an hour on your way home, I may think it's against the law, but it's not likely I'm going to be the one providing you a speeding ticket, Steve. Q Will the White House play any role in that conversation, particularly if the decision is made to charge high-ranking officials like the Vice President or the President with a crime? MR. GIBBS: I think the President campaigned on, and will continue to keep the promise that he made in that campaign, as he has on many others, to leave legal determinations up to those that make legal determinations, not the President. Q Well, the White House worked with the Justice Department on the determination not to hold accountable the field operatives that are responsible for this behavior. MR. GIBBS: But that wasn't a political decision, Major. That was a decision based on -- Q I'm just saying it was a cooperative arrangement between this White House and the Justice Department on that decision. MR. GIBBS: I wouldn't discuss this as an arrangement. I think two people can understand that -- again, this isn't -- this is a fairly time-honored legal tradition, if you follow legal advice rendered in good faith to govern your actions that you're not going to be held accountable or prosecuted for those actions. All this is to say the best way to determine -- Q That's not what I'm talking about. What I was talking about is the collaborative effort between the White House and Justice Department some places and not elsewhere. MR. GIBBS: The best way to determine -- the best way to determine who's going to -- the rule of law is to have it determined by lawyers who can determine whether or not somebody knowingly broke the law. Q We've started talking in the last 24 hours more and more about very high-ranking people - MR. GIBBS: I haven't talked about -- Q -- Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney -- MR. GIBBS: -- you guys have. Q If in fact it reaches that level, would the President weigh in? MR. GIBBS: Okay, you guys and Jay Rockefeller. (Laughter.) I'm sorry, what was -- Q Would the President weigh in -- MR. GIBBS: Now, that we've -- Q -- turn to very high-ranking levels of the government? What does he think, for example, of the fact that Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon? Was that a breach of the presidential duty, or should that have been left to the Attorney General? MR. GIBBS: I think the President has seen Frost/Nixon, but I do not know whether he's determined the efficacy of such a pardon. Thanks, guys. Department of Justice | Interrogation | Obama Administration | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Department of Justice, Interrogation, Obama Administration, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:08 PM
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