Sen. Mitch McConnell

Addressing the growing role of the United States in the Syrian civil war, President Obama said some of the coverage has gotten "a little over-cranked, in terms of the idea that somehow the United States is preparing to go all in and participate in another war. What we want to do is end a war."

President Obama assured an audience in Germany that America is not indiscriminately "rifling" through the emails of ordinary European citizens, describing the National Security Agency's surveillance programs as a "circumscribed" system that has averted threats in America, Germany, and elsewhere.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., asked during a House Intelligence Committee hearing whether the National Security Agency ever targeted for wiretapping the "political enemies" of the current administration.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy won't turn women off to the GOP because of "horrific acts" like Kermit Gosnell's.

Vice President Joe Biden said he knows "for a fact" that some lawmakers who voted down a comprehensive bill to strengthen gun safety laws "wonder now whether that was a prudent vote."

President Obama sounds cautiously optimistic about peace talks with the Taliban in Doha, and insists an "Afghan-owned peace process is the best way to end the violence" in a region torn apart by a bloody 12-year war.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said with a grin that "maybe" he'll lose his job if he brings a comprehensive immigration reform bill to the House floor without the backing of his conference.

General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, argued former government contractor Edward Snowden's decision to leak information about the agency's controversial, top-secret data gathering programs had caused "irreversible and significant damage" to U.S. national security interests, and would ultimately benefit America's enemies.

Sean Joyce, the Deputy Director of the FBI, unveiled four terrorist plots he says were prevented in large part due to information collected by the National Security Agency's controversial, top-secret data gathering programs, including planned bombings of both the New York City subway system and the New York Stock Exchange.

In Northern Ireland for the Group of 8 summit, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron toured the Enniskillen Integrated Primary School, where they visited a classroom and joined in painting a school banner.

xPresident Obama said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had "very productive" discussions about North Korea, and expressed some hope that as a result of Iran's recent election "we may be able to move forward on a dialogue that allows us to resolve the problems with Iran's nuclear program."

Despite tensions between the United States and Russia on how best to address the ongoing violence in Syria, President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting declared their shared interests in "reducing violence" in the war-torn country, even while both acknowledged their differences on the issue.