Originally Posted by Matthew A Brown

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think you are.

Go ahead, Goyal.

Q Scott, I have two questions. One, yesterday at the Johns Hopkins University, a media-type tycoon, with -- newspapers in Pakistan, he was speaking and he said that press is not free in Pakistan, and also the Pakistan -- has been seized by the military. And at the same time this week, General Musharraf has announced that he will stay another five years as is, as a General, not under the democracy in Pakistan. So do we --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not sure -- I don't know whether I saw that announcement. I'll have to take a look at that specific issue. But the President had -- the President had a very good visit with President Musharraf when he went to Pakistan just recently. They had a discussion, certainly, about the importance of continuing to move on the path of democratic reform. You heard very clearly from President Musharraf at that press availability in Pakistan speak to these issues and express his commitment to continue moving down that path.

And we will continue -- Pakistan is a very good ally of the United States. This is something that -- a relationship that has changed in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. We appreciate what they're doing to go after former members of the Taliban and al Qaeda members and bring them to justice. We appreciate their efforts, and we will continue working closely with them in the global war on terrorism. And we'll continue talking about these important priorities, as well, moving forward on reform.

Q My second question is on -- according to The Washington Times, the day-before yesterday, President Bush said that in 2008, he will not take any sides as far actual presidential election is concerned, as far as the candidates are concerned. Does he support the first woman, Hillary Clinton in 2008?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President made very clear that he would be supporting the Republican nominee in 2008. I don't think she will be. (Laughter.)

Q Go out on a limb.

Q Is there speculation?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q Scott, the President today accused Harry Reid of blocking a vote on immigration reform. Reid's people say that what he's opposed to are amendments that Republicans have offered that would undermine the guest worker provision. Is the President comfortable that amendments coming from Republicans on this side are not actually aimed at sabotaging the President?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, Wendell, let's step back to last week when this agreement was reached. This was a broad bipartisan agreement that was reached by members of the Senate. The President expressed his appreciation for Senator Frist's leadership, for Senator Hagel and Senator Martinez, Senator McCain, Senator Kennedy -- many people came together to support this compromise agreement and get moving on a comprehensive piece of legislation to fix our immigration system. It was an agreement that would help us better secure our borders, and help us move forward on a rational and humane temporary guest worker program.

And there was a reasonable number of amendments -- there were a reasonable number of amendments that the Senate thought should be considered. That's part of the legislative process. That's part of debating issues in the Senate. It was a reasonable number of amendments. It's important for people's voices to be heard. This is a difficult and complicated issue. The President has spoken about that. And we need to continue to work through these issues.

But let's be very clear about what happened last week. It's been noted in editorials around the country, it's been noted by many members of Congress: The Senate Minority Leader was the one who singlehandedly stood up and thwarted the will of the American people and stopped the bipartisan compromise from moving forward and getting passed. He put partisan politics above progress for the American people.

Go ahead, John.

Q So -- I'm sorry -- so the President is comfortable, then, with the 15 amendments Senator Sessions offered, and does not believe that they would have undermined the bill --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I expressed last week that it's important for voices to be heard, particularly when you have such a difficult and complicated issue like immigration reform, and for those amendments to be considered on the floor of the Senate.

Q Thank you, Scott. Let me ask a follow-up question. I asked you when Congress was in session twice about whether the President would veto a measure that did not include the guest worker program. You said at first it was early in the game, and then second you said that we had to wait until Congress had done what it had to do in dealing with the bill.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, I think I said that we wanted a comprehensive piece of legislation. That's what the President has said, as well, and that's what we're pushing for. And members of the Senate came together on a comprehensive piece of legislation, yet the Senate Minority Leader blocked that. He used procedural gimmicks to block a comprehensive reform bill from moving forward.

And so there was a lot of good progress being made in the Senate, and we were encouraged by the bipartisan agreement that was reached, because it would keep this legislation moving forward. It was a promising agreement, as the President talked about last week, and it was important to keep this legislation moving, to get it to conference committee, so that we could all work together and iron out some of the details and get a comprehensive bill passed.

Q Well, let me see if I understand you correctly. If it comes out of conference and does not include a guest worker program, it doesn't fit your definition of a comprehensive bill?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first, the Senate Minority Leader needs to end his blocking tactics so that it can go to conference. But the President wants a comprehensive piece of legislation, and that's what he will continue to emphasize. It's still early in the legislative process. Leaders in the Senate have said they are committed to continuing to move forward on comprehensive reform, and we look forward to working with leaders as they do so.

Q So if I understand you correctly, if the final version doesn't include --

MR. McCLELLAN: You're ahead of the legislative process at this point. The President is going to continue talking about the importance of comprehensive reform and working to get comprehensive reform passed.

Q So you're not going to say whether he'll veto anything or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: I can't be more clear than what I said, I'm going to say.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, I'm not sure if this was asked before, but does the President believe that these criticisms -- aside from the resignation criticisms -- that these generals are making have some bearing?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know why they're expressing such opinions. You'll have to ask those generals that.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, a two-part.

MR. McCLELLAN: I would just point out, of course we greatly appreciate the service of these retired generals, as we do appreciate the service of all those who have worn the uniform. And we will be forever grateful for their service.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, a two-part. Last May, the Council on Foreign Relations, in its major report titled "Building a North American Community," urged the U.S. to de-emphasize its borders with Mexico and Canada, and to encourage an even easier cross-border migration between the three countries, saying rather than beef up the U.S.-Mexican and U.S.-Canadian borders, we should instead concentrate on toughening up an outer security perimeter all -- around all of North America. And my question: Does this match the President's thinking?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the President has expressed what his thinking is when it comes to doing more to secure our borders. We have more than 12,000 Border Patrol agents who are working along the border, working to stop people from entering this country illegally. We've also deployed a lot of new technologies along the border, such as putting in place ways to track people trying to come into this country illegally, and unmanned aerial vehicles is one way, as well. We've talked about that before. We've continued to work to increase the number of Border Patrol agents.

There's more -- we've made some good progress to better secure our borders. The President talked about how since he came into office, we've stopped some 6 -- or returned some 6 million people from coming into this country illegally. And we need to continue to move forward. There's more that we need to do, and that's what the President is committed to doing.

Comprehensive reform begins with securing our borders. And it also includes interior enforcement, and a temporary guest worker program is important if we're going to have a rational solution to the problem. And that's why the President has talked about how a guest worker program will help relieve pressure on the border, because what you have is a number of people that are coming from countries because they want to do more to improve the quality of life for their families. That's why they're coming here.

And so there are some longer-term solutions in terms of expanding trade and opportunity and improving the quality of life in those countries for those individuals, so they'll be less likely to want to come here.

But we also have to deal with reality. The reality is, we have a number -- a very high number of illegal immigrants in this country. They're meeting an important economic need. And we are a nation of laws, and we're a nation of immigrants. And if we're going to address the real threats, then we need to have a temporary worker program to allow our Border Patrol agents to focus on the criminals and the thugs and the terrorists and the traffickers and smugglers that are trying to come into this country illegally. That's what all of us want to see happen. But I think there's broad support from the American people for comprehensive reform.

Q From San Antonio, The Washington Times reports this morning that the gravesite of Gregorio Esparza, who was killed in action defending the Alamo, is now missing. And my question: Does the former governor of your state believe that Esparza's grave should be searched for, restored, and honored?

MR. McCLELLAN: I haven't taken a look at that issue, Les. But I'll be glad to take a look at it.

Q Get back to me?

MR. McCLELLAN: As someone who is a Texan, and certainly someone who has followed Texas history very closely, as well.

Q You're a Virginian, you keep telling us.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q You are registered to vote in the --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm a Texan.

Q -- in the commonwealth of Virginia?

MR. McCLELLAN: Born and raised in Texas. Temporary resident of Virginia, which is a great state, too.

Go ahead. (Laughter.)

Q When did the administration become aware of the Pentagon report that talks about mobile trailers?

MR. McCLELLAN: The only update I have on that matter is what the Pentagon said yesterday. The Pentagon put out a statement and talked about how that was a preliminary report from a DIA -- meaning Defense Intelligence Agency -- sponsored technical exploitation team, and that information was sent to the DIA. And then they said that the CIA-DIA joint white paper that was released publicly on May 28th reflected the position of the intelligence community at the time, and that the findings that you're bringing up were vetted with other intelligence analysts during the summer of 2003. So that's a statement from the Pentagon, and that's the only update I have at this point.

Q So if it had been vetted then would you have known about them by, say, September 2003?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if you'll remember, the view of the intelligence community was expressed in the white paper that was released on May 28th. It was a joint white paper by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. And that's what the President's comments were based on. I know that there were still -- and that view prevailed for quite some time period. You can go back and look at that time period, because there's a lot of discussion about it. And then you had the Director of the CIA talking as late as February, saying that there was not a consensus on this issue -- February of the next year. And these findings were incorporated into the Iraq Survey Group, which completed a final report in September of 2004.

So that was a year later, more than a year later when the Iraq Survey Group completed that report. And if you go back to, I think, October of 2003, David Kay was still saying that it wasn't exactly clear, or something along those lines, in terms of what these might be used for.

Q Well, the report had said it was absolutely clear what these could and couldn't be used for, that they couldn't be used for --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I just pointed out that at the time there was a preliminary report coming in from the field, and that it was evaluated and assessed over a period of time.

Q When was -- one second one. When was Congress briefed on the contents of this?

MR. McCLELLAN: You might want to talk to the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was in the Iraq Survey Group report, which was a public document incorporated into the bipartisan Robb-Silberman Commission report which looked at the intelligence relating to Iraq, and then made recommendations about how to improve our intelligence.

Q The Vice President, as late as January 2004, was still stating that they were weapons labs.

MR. McCLELLAN: There were a number of people who were still talking about that issue for quite some time.

Q Scott, the President has said, you have said, as well, that the U.S. is pursuing diplomacy regarding Iran. When the President looks at the recent statements and actions by the Iranian government and particularly the President, does he have a hope, does he have any real reason to believe that there can be a peaceful resolution?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you can understand why we are skeptical, given the regime's history. This is a regime that has a history of hiding their nuclear activities from the international community and not abiding by their international obligations. That's why the Security Council issued a presidential statement and said, you need to fully suspend your enrichment and reprocessing activities, you need to come into compliance with your obligations, and you need to negotiate in good faith -- abide by the Paris Agreement and negotiate in good faith. The Paris Agreement was what the regime reached with the Europeans, saying that, we will suspend our enrichment and reprocessing activities.

That's an issue of trust. It's an issue of confidence-building. This is a regime that has shown they can't be trusted when it comes to their nuclear program. It's not a matter of whether or not they should have civilian nuclear power; they've had options to move forward on civilian nuclear power. It's an issue of trust and can they show the world that what they are doing is for peaceful purposes. So far they're only showing the world defiance. And we want to see cooperation and negotiation. But as long as they are continuing down this path, then we believe it's time for the Security Council to take some steps to address this threat.

Q So is the President -- could you describe him as disheartened or pessimistic about those chances?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I just said "skeptical."

Q Will the President attend the egg roll on Monday?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q Will the President attend --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't have any update on his schedule for Monday. We'll keep you posted.

Q Well, I have the speech in Sterling. We know he's sort of out of town during the day, but no decision yet on whether he'll be at the event --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll keep you posted on his schedule for Monday.

Q Scott, has the White House ever stated its outright opposition to the felony provision in the House immigration bill?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the Department of Justice has been working with members of Congress on that very issue. I think Chairman Sensenbrenner talked about some of that outreach. We've been working very closely with members on that very issue, and I saw the statement that Senator Frist and Speaker Hastert put out the other day, as well.

Q Scott, this just crossed from Senator Reid --

MR. McCLELLAN: Instant reaction.

Q Yes. "President Bush has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security. If he were actually committed to comprehensive immigration reform, he would have stopped his own party from filibustering it twice last week. If the President is serious about moving forward then he should join me in calling on Senator Frist to bring immigration reform back to the Senate floor when we return." Will he do that?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Senate leaders have committed to coming back to immigration reform. This is a Democrat leader that is on the defensive because of what he did to stop us from moving forward on comprehensive reform. He singlehandedly stopped the Senate from moving forward, and he's having a tough time defending his position in front of the American people, because the American people expect us to work together to get things done, and the Senate did work together, came to an agreement, and Senator Reid was the one who singlehandedly thwarted the will of the American people and stopped that bipartisan progress from moving forward.

Q Has the President flexed the full force of his muscle yet on this?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President has remained -- has been very engaged in this issue, and he will continue to be. So it's a high priority for all of us. And that's why Senator Reid needs to allow this process to move forward and stop engaging in procedural gimmicks to block those efforts.

Q Thank you.

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.

END 12:35 P.M. EDT