White House correspondents nail Gibbs on lack of Obama - Netanyahu pictures; UPDATED WITH VIDEO
TAPPER: Robert, you mentioned that the president asked Netanyahu for confidence-building measures with the Palestinians, and you mentioned that they have areas of agreement and disagreement. Can you be any more specific on that?
GIBBS: No. Not right now.
TAPPER: When you -- when the president holds events and does not allow photographers in, it implies that the president is hiding something, is not -- is embarrassed --
GIBBS: I -- I --
TAPPER: -- is embarrassed about something --
GIBBS: I would --
TAPPER: -- is uncomfortable for photographs of that event to be made public…
GIBBS: I disagree with all three of those characterizations.
TAPPER: Well, what's your response to people who say that the way that the president has welcomed Netanyahu to the White House has been as if he's embarrassed to be seen with Netanyahu, with -- not even allowing one of (White House photographer Pete) Souza's photographs of him? And the --
GIBBS: Again, we were very comfortable with the coverage for last night's meeting. They had a --
TAPPER: There wasn't -- There was no coverage.
(Laughter.)
GIBBS: We were comfortable with that.
(Cross talk.)
CHIP REID, CBS NEWS: You’re pleased when there's no coverage?
GIBBS: Huh?
REID: What -- you're pleased when there's no coverage?
GIBBS: We're pleased that -- we were pleased with the way we set up the coverage for last night. Not every -- I knows this comes as a great shock to both you and to me but not everything the president does is for the cameras and for the press.
(Cross talk.)
It's something that --
TAPPER: Do you see no contradiction at all when the secretary of State goes before AIPAC and says that the U.S. has no stronger, no closer ally than Israel and then the president won't even allow a photograph of him and the Israeli prime minister --
GIBBS: No, I don't -- I don't see a contradiction at all.
TAPPER: …as if he's embarrassed to be seen with him?
GIBBS: I'd -- that's your characterization, not mine.
TAPPER: Is the president concerned about photographs of him and Netanyahu being seen in the world?
GIBBS: No, we've -- I'd -- I forget Mark Knoller's statistics, but I think there have been many pictures of -- and --
CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS: Never of a one-on-one --
MR. GIBBS: -- many --
CHUCK TODD: -- not a -- not a single one-on-one.
GIBBS: No, that's not true. There was --
TODD: There was just the trio pictures.
MR. GIBBS: There -- no, that's not true. There was a spray in the Oval Office with just the two of them.
TAPPER: That's right.
CHUCK TODD: But not -- not the last time -- this is two times in a row --
GIBBS: No, that's true. Right.
UPDATE 6:58 AM
Now that I'm awake....
Here's video of that press briefing. It's a long video, but luckily this is almost the first item on it. There's an exchange that starts at the 2:00 mark and ends at the 7:30 mark when he moves on to financial reform. The reporter with an accent is of course an Israeli (I'm not sure who it is). He goes back to it briefly at the 9:00 mark and then at the 11:30 mark they get into the exchange above and the pictures, which lasts until 13:45. They go back to it again around 19:30 until about 21:15 and again from around 28:00 until around 30:00. They get back into Israel again at 32:30 or so and it lasts until 33:45.
Let's go to the videotape.
Gibbs looks a little uncomfortable, doesn't he?
Israel Matzav: White House correspondents nail Gibbs on lack of Obama - Netanyahu pictures; UPDATED WITH VIDEO
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