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December 9, 2009 10:18 AM

Obama Summons Top Bankers to the White House

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Obama plans to pressure top bankers next Monday to increase lending to the nation's small businesses.

A White House official confirms the president has summoned bankers and other financial industry CEOs to meet with him early next week to discuss his efforts to grow the economy and create an environment for more hiring in the private sector.

The meeting will follow yesterday's speech in which he announced a number of proposals to create jobs in the face of government numbers showing 15.4-million unemployed nationwide. Half that number lost their jobs since the recession began two years ago.

One proposal would use some of the $200-billion in unspent money from the TARP bank bailout fund as loans to small businesses, to help them expand and hire new employees.

Mr. Obama will also use Monday's meeting to push for more support of his proposal to create a new regulatory system for the financial industry – which opposes the idea. The plan has so far made little progress in Congress.


(CBS)
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.
Tags:
Barack Obama ,
White House ,
Bankers ,
Wall Street ,
Small Businesses
Topics:
Economy
December 4, 2009 9:49 AM

Bob Schieffer: The Salahis Ought to Be Prosecuted

Michaele and Tareq Salahi's intrusion into the White House state dinner was more than an affront to White House protocol, according to CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer -- it was an affront to the American people, for which they must be punished.

"I think the government ought to prosecute these people," Schieffer said today on the CBS Early Show. "If that means sending them to jail, so be it."

The Salahis managed to attend portions of the White House's first state dinner last month, even though they had not been invited. The Northern Virginia couple's entry into the party was the subject of scrutiny at a congressional hearing yesterday. They were asked to testify before Congress but refused. The Secret Service took full responsibility for the security breach and has placed three officers in leave in wake of the incident.

"This is not only a security issue," Schieffer said. "People being able to get into the White House and get up close to the president -- and who knows where that kind of thing goes, but this is also sort of an insult to the American people."

The Salahis were filmed by the television network Bravo in their preparations for the White House dinner, apparently for the upcoming television show "The Real Housewives of D.C." A state dinner, however, is more serious than a fancy party for socialites, Schieffer said on the Early Show.

"State dinners are part of the symbols of our democracy, like the White House itself, like the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem," he said. "And when people are making fun of those things, when they're doing what these people did, that's an insult to all of us. And if these people go to jail, that will be just fine with me."

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Tags:
White House ,
Salahi ,
Bob Schieffer
Topics:
White House
December 3, 2009 3:27 PM

Obama: I Trust Secret Service 100 Percent

(CBS)
The Secret Service has admitted making a mistake in letting Tareq and Michaele Salahi into last month's White House state dinner without an invitation, but President Obama is still 100 percent confident in his security.

"I could not have more confidence in the Secret Service," Mr. Obama told USA Today and the Detroit Free Press in a joint interview. "They do an outstanding job. They have been with me since I was a candidate. I trust them 100 percent, not just with me but with my wife and my children."

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told Congress today that the Secret Service took responsibility for the security breach and that three officers involved in the incident are currently suspended. He also said, however, that recent claims about higher threat levels against the president have been inaccurate and Mr. Obama was not at risk the night of the state dinner.

Mr. Obama acknowledged in the interview that "the system didn't work the way it was supposed to."

The White House has resisted sending White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify before Congress about the incident, citing the separation of powers.
Tags:
White House ,
Barack Obama ,
Secret Service
Topics:
Barack Obama
December 3, 2009 9:54 AM

GOP Rep Asks what White House is "Hiding" about Party Crashing Incident

(White House Photo)
Democrats are insisting that the alleged "White House crashers," Tareq and Michaele Salahi, testify before a congressional panel this morning, but one Republican on the panel says the White House social secretary should have to answer questions about the security breach as well.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson said he could subpoena the Salahis if they are not interested in voluntarily attending today's hearing regarding their ability to gain entry into the White House state dinner without any sort of invitation.

"The Salahis' testimony is important to explain how a couple circumvented layers of security at the White House on the evening of a State Dinner without causing alarm," Thompson said in a statement.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan agreed to testify this morning, but along with the Salahis, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers declined to appear. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday that White House staff does not testify before Congress, based on the separation of powers.

An aide for Thompson said this morning that no decisions have been made on whether to subpoena Rogers, reports CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson.

Ranking Republican Peter King said Rogers' testimony is more important than the Salahis'.

"The White House should not be allowed to stonewall by refusing the Committee's request that Ms. Rogers testify," he said in a statement. "What is the White House trying to hide?"

If the committee does decide to subpoena Rogers or the Salahis, there could be another hearing on the matter.
Tags:
White House crashers ,
Salahis ,
Desiree Rogers ,
Peter King
Topics:
White House
December 3, 2009 9:03 AM

Politics Today: Obama Explores Modest Steps for Job Creation

Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** The White House faces limitations in what it can do for the job market...

** Congress questions Obama's Afghanistan plan...

** White House crashers may be forced to testify before Congress...

(AP)
JOBS SUMMIT: Today, President Obama hosts the "Jobs and Economic Growth Forum" where he'll speak then hear from CEOs, small business owners and labor leaders, along with the heads of a number of nonprofit organizations.

"The forum will assemble economists, union heads and business leaders such as Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Mountain View, California-based Google Inc., and Fred Smith of Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp.," writes Bloomberg News' Nicholas Johnston. "With the nation’s unemployment rate at a 23-year high of 10.2 percent, Obama will solicit feedback on job-creation proposals such as incentives to make homes more energy efficient, increased access to financing for small business and tax credits for companies…

"The companies that will be represented at the White House, including Dallas-based AT&T Inc., Chicago-based Boeing Co. and New York-based Pfizer Inc., provide a snapshot of the nation’s employment woes, having cut more than 36,000 jobs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

"Obama convenes a summit here on jobs, then flies Friday to Allentown, Pa., for the first in what will be periodic listening tours on the economy," adds USA Today's Richard Wolf. "The goal is to develop new spending and tax proposals to help many of the nation's nearly 16 million unemployed people find work in 2010...

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Tags:
Barack Obama ,
jobs ,
economy ,
White House crashers ,
Salahis
Topics:
Politics Today
December 2, 2009 5:22 PM

White House Posts New Rules on Guests

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The White House has announced new rules on guests (PDF) in the wake of revelations that Tareq and Michaele Salahi gained entry to the White House during the Obama administration's first state dinner despite not having been invited.

In a memo, Jim Messina, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, writes that "it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex."

"White House staff were walking back and forth outside between the check points helping guests and were available to the Secret Service throughout the evening, but clearly we can do more, and we will do more," writes Messina.

He laid out the following new procedures for official White House events in the future:

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Tags:
party crashers ,
white house ,
Salalis ,
rules
Topics:
In The News
December 2, 2009 2:58 PM

White House Decorated for Holidays

(CBS / Mark Knoller)
The White House has announced its 2009 holiday theme: "Reflect, rejoice, and renew."

The earth-friendly theme means the use of recycled ornaments, natural materials and energy-saving lighting for their 18.5-foot Douglas fir Christmas tree. The tree, which stands in the Blue Room, was purchased from a farm in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, the Washington Post reports.

Among the decorations are a gingerbread model of the White House (pictured below) - which includes Bo, the family dog, standing guard out front - and First Lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden. The tree is festooned with golden ribbons, red bulbs and smaller white lights. Some of the ornaments were used by Mr. Obama's predecessors.

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Tags:
White House ,
Christmas
Topics:
White House
December 2, 2009 9:05 AM

Politics Today: Skepticism from the Left and Right on Obama's Afghan Plan

Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** Bipartisan support needed to fund buildup could hard for Obama to find...

** Senators target seniors and women with first health care amendments...

** White House crashers have some explaining to do after e-mails are revealed...

(CBS/ AP)
AFGHANISTAN: Following his highly-anticipated Afghanistan war speech last night, President Obama will let Congress mull over his plan today as he stays at the White House with no public events scheduled.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen will testify about the plan to the Senate Armed Services and the House Foreign Affairs Committees today.

Meantime, "A barrage of instant criticism blasting President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy from across the political spectrum signaled the challenges ahead in selling the plan to a skeptical public and Congress," reports the Wall Street Journal's Peter Wallsten.

"Some of Mr. Obama's most loyal supporters among liberal grass-roots groups denounced the 30,000-troop escalation—despite a newly revealed plan for a quick drawdown that White House officials had hoped would mollify the left.

"Many Republicans, while supporting the troop increase, were quick to charge that the timetable for withdrawal would embolden U.S. adversaries. Arizona Sen. John McCain warned that Mr. Obama risked telling the enemy 'that you're coming and you're leaving.'"

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Tags:
Barack Obama ,
Afghanistan ,
Salahis ,
White House crashers
Topics:
Politics Today
December 1, 2009 11:33 AM

Salahis Accused of Crashing Congressional Black Caucus Dinner

(White House Photo)
The Northern Viriginia couple that "crashed" the White House's recent state dinner is now accused of sneaking into another event that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi first came under scrutiny last week for gaining access to portions of the state dinner on Tuesday without proper White House or Secret Service clearance. Now, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is reportedly saying the couple attended a September CBC Foundation awards dinner without an invitation.

"I don't want to say it's like a kid getting his hand caught in the cookie jar, but in essence, that's pretty much what it was," Lance Jones, a communications official with the CBC foundation, told WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington. "I had a sheet in front of me that said who was sitting at what table, and they weren't on that list."

Jones said he asked the couple for their identification and tickets, but they could not produce any tickets. He escorted the couple outside and told security guards they were not to be allowed back in. WTTG-TV reports the couple gained access to the party through an entrance for bus boys and caterers. The television network Bravo, which has been filming the Salahis, requested access to the CBC dinner but were denied entry.

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Tags:
Salahi ,
White House ,
CBC
Topics:
White House
November 30, 2009 12:22 PM

White House Party Crashers Called to Testify Before Congress

(White House Photo)
Congressional lawmakers are expecting to hear this week directly from the head of the Secret Service, as well as from the Northern Virginia couple who "crashed" the White House State Dinner last week, as to how exactly the couple gained access to the White House uninvited.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced this morning that the House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on the matter this Thursday. The committee plans to invite testimony from Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the couple who managed to attend portions of the State Dinner on Tuesday without proper White House and Secret Service clearance. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who is responsible for the safety of Secret Service protectees, will also be invited to testify.

"This is a time for answers, recognition of security deficiencies past and present, and remedies to ensure the strength of the Secret Service and the safety of those under its protection," Thompson said in a statement. "The intent of this Administration may be openness and transparency, but a security breakdown that allowed anyone who looked the part to walk off the street into a State Dinner is a slap in the face to the Secret Service employees who put their lives on the line to protect our form of government and its leaders."

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Tags:
White House party crashers ,
Michaele Salahi ,
Tareq Salahi ,
state dinner
Topics:
White House

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