Gibbs fields his first news briefing

Published: Jan. 22, 2009 at 8:20 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Questions about executive orders and the do-over of Barack Obama's swearing-in dominated White House spokesman Robert Gibbs' first news conference Thursday.

White House officials "did not believe that there was a problem (with the original oath), but out of an abundance of caution, it simply was done again," Gibbs said.

U.S. Chief Justice John Robers misplaced the word "faithfully" when originally administering the oath Tuesday. "Out of an abundance of caution" it was repeated at the Map Room in the White House, Gibbs repeated.

Gibbs was pressed about the lack of media presence during the repeated oath, which four print journalists attended, and the lack of independently shot photos.

"I think the procedures ... provided the documentation," he said. "I think the pool report accurately reflects what happened."

Gibbs said the executive orders the closing of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison and essentially forbidding torture "will enhance the security of the American people, that it lives up to our values as Americans, and that it will protect the men and women that we have in uniform."

He said he didn't want to prejudge the work of a multi-agency commission that will review the disposition of the Guantanamo Bay inmates and other issues related to intelligence because the panel would study "any number of scenarios regarding detainees and interrogation."

Gibbs said Obama would be briefed daily on the economy by his economic advisers because the president "felt it was important to that each day he receive the most up-to-date information as it relates to the economy."

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
UPI NewsTrack Sports (1 min)
Anthrax research stopped over euthanasia (2 min)
UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News (16 min)
Nesting owl knocked down power line (17 min)
Electrolux and Kenmore gas ranges recalled (24 min)
Team Work Trading pendant sets recalled (26 min)
Synapses form rapidly in motor learning (29 min)
fark
Your mother is in a car accident, so you pull over and C) Kick the reponding State Trooper in the...
Someone stole Simon? ALLLLLLLL-VINNNNN
Instead of providing light during a power outage, lamp oil in a sauce pan will only provide you...
Ready-for-Fark headline: "Drive-by gooseing in North Mankato park"
Man tells cops he's wearing nylons and making sexual gestures to passing vehicles because the meth...
Man 'walking like Frankenstein' says 'hemmer, hammer hammer' while smashing TVs inside Target