James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 12:35 P.M. EDT MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. Hello to my mom in the back, my mom and my sister -- friends. (Applause.) I don't usually get that reception in here. (Laughter.) Q: Mom gets it. MS. PERINO: Yes, I know. (Laughter.) So I don't have anything to start with -- just happy 4th of July eve. Q: Who in the White House was aware of the negotiations between Hunt Oil Company and the Kurdistan government? MS. PERINO: As far as I know, I don't know of anybody who was aware of it. As we have said before, the State Department had said that they had been aware of it and they had raised questions about it, and that's what they are maintaining today. So I don't know of anybody in the White House who was aware of it. Q: Is it unusual that somebody in the State Department wouldn't have told someone in the White House that this was going on, since this ran contrary to administration policy? MS. PERINO: I'm not sure -- I think a lot of these conversations actually happened in Iraq, and so I'm not sure how all that happened, so I'd refer you over there. I think one of the things that -- one of the questions has been that there was notification by Mr. Hunt that he would be traveling overseas. I just want to make sure something is very clear on that: It is the law and it is routine and it is required that any member of the PFIAB* board, if they're going to be traveling overseas, send a letter notifying that they will be doing so. So that suggestion that that letter is suspicious is, I think, just headed in the wrong direction. Q: And the notification went to State, not -- didn't come here, or -- MS. PERINO: It goes to the PFIAB*, but that doesn't necessarily -- I don't know what's in the letter, but I don't think it had anything to do with substance of the travel. Q: It just says "I'm traveling abroad." MS. PERINO: Yes, just that you have to list where you're going. Q: And it didn't raise any flags when he said, "I'm going to Iraq"? MS. PERINO: Not that I'm aware of. And again, it's the PFIAB*, and I don't know who all saw it -- who all would have seen it at that time. So I'd refer you to the State Department, because they had said that they had had the contacts beforehand and that's what they're maintaining today. I don't know of anybody else in the White House who would have known about the letters. Q: Dana, can you talk -- you probably discussed in the gaggle a little bit -- but on camera, if you could talk a little bit about when the President was first informed that there was some intelligence that maybe would lead to this Colombian rescue mission. How early was he looped in? How involved was the President? Just kind of broadly speaking. MS. PERINO: Sure. I think you just heard from the President -- I don't know if you've seen it yet, but he was able to make a couple of comments about the hostages being released from the FARC down in Colombia. The President got a call yesterday from President Uribe to let the President know that the operation had been successful. The United States had been working with the government of Colombia for the last several years, ever since the American hostages had been taken, in order to try to free them safely and successfully in a way that would not cause any harm to the individuals. And thankfully, that's what happened yesterday. We were aware of the operation in its planning stages. We provided some specific sup ...
[Display the complete paper] | 
