Robert Gibbs

February 01, 2010 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Before we get started with your questions, let me make a brief announcement.

The President and the First Lady will be traveling to Indonesia and Australia in the second half of March. This trip is an important part of the President's continued effort to broaden and strengthen the partnerships that are necessary to advance our security and prosperity. Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, the third largest democracy; is home to the largest Muslim population in the world; and an important partner in the G20.    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

January 25, 2010 -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Let me read just one short, quick statement before we get started.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of the passengers on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 in Beirut, Lebanon last night. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who lost loved ones. The United States commends the government of Lebanon and the United Nations rescue workers in their immediate response and recovery effort."

And with that, Ms. Loven.    » read more »

December 14, 2009 -- The President today welcomed substantial progress in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate with the release of ten new Technology Action Plans.

President Obama launched the MEF in March 2009, creating a new dialogue among developed and emerging economies to combat climate change and promote clean energy. At their July summit in L’Aquila, Italy, MEF Leaders launched a Global Partnership on clean energy technologies.    » read more »

November 30, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Let's quickly -- I'll do a week ahead and then a couple of quick announcements before we start with questions.

Obviously, as you know, on Tuesday the President will address the nation at 8:00 p.m. eastern time from the military academy at West Point, on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On Wednesday the President will attend meetings here at the White House. On Thursday the President will hold a forum on jobs and economic growth here at the White House. The forum will be an opportunity for the President and his economic team to hear from CEOs, small business owners and financial experts about ideas for continuing to grow the economy and put Americans back to work.

Q Do you have a time on that?    » read more »

Press Briefing By White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; And Ambassador To China Jon Huntsman; Senior Director For The National Security Council For Asian Affairs Jeff Bader; Deputy National Security Advisor Mike Froman; And Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes

November 17, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon, guys. I am going to very brief, so brief that all I'm going to do is turn this over to -- first to Ambassador Huntsman, to give us a few minutes on the trip; Jeff Bader, who will talk a little bit more about -- in addition to what the Ambassador talks about -- what happened at some of the meetings today; as well as Mike Froman, who you've heard from during the trip.    » read more »

November 10, 2009 -- Aboard Air Force One, En Route Fort Hood, Texas -- MR. GIBBS: Good morning, folks. How is everyone? Who's first?

Q Two questions about Fort Hood. Just a logistical question: The schedule has the President meeting with wounded troops twice, before and after the service. Are these all troops wounded in the shooting, or is this two different groups?

MR. GIBBS: As I understand it, and I'll double-check this, as I understand it, he'll meet with families from those that have lost loved ones today whom we're here to honor in the memorial service. He'll speak, and then if I'm not mistaken, he'll make a visit to the hospital, as well.*    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

November 9, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Before we get going on questions I just want to reiterate again that -- I think most of you know that we'll be doing a briefing call on Asia, on the Asia trip. I think as most of you all know, based on the events of last week and the changes to the President's schedule this week, our departure to Japan will be delayed by a day. We head to Japan, spend the same amount of time there, one fewer days in Singapore, and then pick up as previously scheduled.    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

November 06, 2009 -- 12:15 P.M. EST MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Let me -- I'm going to start with a couple of things. I was going to do a week ahead but, as you might imagine, the week ahead prior to leaving for Asia is a bit in flux. As that gets filled in throughout the rest of today, we will endeavor to provide better guidance to the exact events that will happen over the course of those several days prior to us leaving for Asia.    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

November 5, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: All right, now that the warmup band has finished playing. (Laughter.) Probably only get to say that once or twice in my life. I might as well try today, right?

Yes, sir.

Q What prompted the President to come out today and make that statement, which sounded pretty tough?    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

November 3, 2009 -- Q Do you know who the President is rooting for in the World Series yet?

MR. GIBBS: I emailed this to Basinet, who asked at the conclusion of last Friday's briefing --

Q I was the one who asked this question -- for the record.

MR. GIBBS: I'm sorry. He emailed me, because I guess --

Q Because you evaded the question.

MR. GIBBS: Well, I didn’t know the answer. It drew some apparent attention in New York. I asked the President. He said he hoped for a good series, but didn’t have a strong pull for either team.

Q There goes Pennsylvania. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: We'll see. What's that?

Q Does that means seven games? A good series?    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

November 2, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Take us away, Ben.

Q Thanks, Robert. A few questions about Afghanistan. Can you tell us, first generally speaking, what's the President's reaction to the end of this election? And is he in any way relieved that this sort of messy process is over?

MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think by all accounts, this has been a difficult process. This is the first election run by the Afghans. But I think the President, the embassy there, and everyone can take heart in the notion that the laws of Afghanistan and the institutions of Afghanistan prevailed in both instances.    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

October 30, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. We'll try to do this quickly so we can get to afternoon meetings with the Joint Chiefs. But let me start out with giving you guys a quick rundown of the week ahead.

On Saturday, tomorrow, the First Family will welcome more than 2,000 local area children from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia schools, and their families for trick-or-treating at the North Portico for Halloween. In addition, the President and First Lady and the Vice President and Dr. Biden will host a Halloween reception for military families and children of White House and White House residence staff.

Q What are they coming as?

MR. GIBBS: All sorts of things.    » read more »

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

October 28, 2009 -- Q Payments to President Karzai's brother by the CIA -- what can you tell us about how that -- or if that has caused any consternation here at the White House?

MR. GIBBS: I would refer questions about that story to the CIA.

Q So it's not true?

MR. GIBBS: The best person to ask that to is somebody at the CIA.

Q And what's the reaction here to the attack in Kabul today?    » read more »

October 27, 2009 -- Aboard Air Force One, En Route Norfolk, Virginia -- Q Hey, Robert, some of the moderates in the Senate -- moderate Democrats -- are really balking at the health care plan that Senator Reid announced. What's the President going to do to try to help him line up the support he'll need to get that through the Senate?

MR. GIBBS: Well, obviously right now, I mean, the President is working to ensure we get this through. I don't -- I have not heard of any specific calls that the President has made, and obviously Senator Reid is working this through the caucus. But I'm sure we'll get involved in due time.

But look, I think we've been -- we've been working through these issues for many months, and we'll continue to do so to make progress.    » read more »

Also Deputy Assistant To The President On Economic Policy Dr. Jared Bernstein; And Director Of The Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes

October 19, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Good after -- or good morning, I should say. Sorry, I'm used to doing this in the afternoon. Before we get started with our regularly scheduled programming, Jared Bernstein and Melody Barnes are here to discuss the report that released this morning on the jobs saved in the recovery plan by teachers. So I'm going to turn it over to Jared and Melody.    » read more »