UPDATE: Here's the whole transcript from this morning.
An update to Hugh's post: I think we got up to four questions about the Jack Abramoff pictures today, all of which were some variation on "why won't you release them?"
On Hamas:
"If your platform is the destruction of Israel, then you're not a partner in peace, and we want peace.""The United States does not support parties that support the destruction of our ally, Israel."
Q: Are you ruling out dealing with a Hamas government?
"We don't have a government yet, so you're asking me to speculate, but I've made it very clear that a party that articulates the destruction of Israel is not a party with which the United States can deal."
On NSA:
Q: Would you be resistant to the notion of Congress creating new laws to allow the NSA program?"The terrorist surveillance program is necessary to protect America from attack."
"There's no doubt in my mind it is legal."
"We have briefed Congress and we will continue to."
"But people need to understand that if the attempt to write law is likely to expose the nature of the program, then I will resist it."
"Why tell the enemy what we're doing if the program is necessary to protect us from the enemy, and it is."
On fiscal discipline:
Q: Do you need to be more aggressive with threatening to veto spending bills? Do you think Congress is doing enough to control spending?"We present a budget target and they meet 'em. They meet those targets."
"I'm fully prepared to use the veto if they overspend. They've got a chance now...to vote on the reconciliation plan in the House. Don't get me wrong; we've got a lot of work to do."
"There needs to be earmark reform, and we look forward to working with responsible members of Congress to do that."
On torture:
"No American will be allowed to torture any human being anywhere on earth."
On lobbying:
Q: Were you lobbied by Jack Abramoff?"I frankly don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy (Jack Abramoff). I don't know him."
"We did the the grip-and-grin, they take the picture, and off he goes."
"I never sat down with him and had a conversation with the guy."
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