Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan

Bear Canyon Senior Center Albuquerque, New Mexico

8:20 A.M. MST

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple of things, first of all, and then I'll take some questions. One, you got the schedule for the day. We're going to do a conference call at 4:45 p.m. Eastern, to preview tomorrow's trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Martin and President Fox. So I think that works with your all's schedules; you'll be able to listen in to it, as well, and participate in that conference call. It will be a background call with senior administration officials.

Q: NSC --

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, some NSC folks.

And then, secondly, one personnel announcement that we'll be putting out later today. Cathie Martin will be a Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director for Policy and Planning. It's one that you all, obviously, are interested in. And Cathie has been a valuable member of the President's communication team for some time now. And we were all pleased that she's accepted this position. And I know she looks forward to working with you all, as well.

With that, I'm glad to take your questions.

Q: Judge? Judge reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, the judge, the federal court ruling this morning -- we would have preferred a different ruling. My understanding is that the lawyers for the parents are now appealing the decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. And we hope that they will be able to have relief, through the appeals process. We continue to stand on the side of defending life. This ruling was one step in the process, and we will see what comes of further proceedings.

Q: What about a replacement for John Taylor?

MR. McCLELLAN: Nothing to announce at this point. Obviously, we will keep you posted.

Q: Will it be today?

MR. McCLELLAN: It will be soon.

Q: What about the school shooting in Minnesota? Is the President aware of that, and what does he think?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, he was briefed on it last night. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed. This is a terrible tragedy. I think it's difficult for anyone to fully understand how something like this could happen. And our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones.

Anything else?

Q: Scott, can you say anything about the summit tomorrow, just in advance of the backgrounder this afternoon, some sort of --

MR. McCLELLAN: You'll have more this afternoon. We don't have much more time here, but you'll have more this afternoon. It's a trilateral meeting; there's no bilateral meetings scheduled. This will really be focusing on our partnership on security and prosperity. I touched a little bit on this last week. Security and prosperity go hand-in-hand; you can't have one without the other in this day and age.

Thank you.

END 8:23 A.M. MST