MS. PERINO: We are on our way to Kennebunkport, Maine. We are halfway through the day, so sorry we're getting this a little bit late, but I think it worked out better in the end. He had his normal briefings this morning, and you know he had his statement on Iraq. He had the event with the Scouts in Action commendation. The President then gave his speech at the West Virginia Coal Association, so you have that.

Congressman Nick Rahall did travel up with us. I don't know if you had a chance to see him, but he visited with the President in the President's office on the way up there.

And I have a couple of announcements. I'm going to make the delegation announcement for the Olympics. The President, Mrs. Bush, and Ms. Barbara Bush will attend the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China on August 8, 2008. They will also be accompanied by an official delegation that includes the following people: The Honorable George H. W. Bush; T. Randt, Jr., United States Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and his wife Sarah; Mr. and Mrs. Marvin and Margaret Bush; Mrs. Doro Bush Koch; and Mr. And Mrs. Roland and Lois Betts; and finally, Mr. Brad Freeman.

One thing that I've been asked about a couple of times this week and said that we were checking into was the CPSC bill -- the Consumer Product Safety Commission bill. We have had a chance to review it. I can announce to you today the President will sign that bill. We are committed to ensuring that the products that come into America are safe for consumers and that the regulating agencies have what they need in order to do their job. Fortunately, Congress made headway on some of the concerns that we had expressed and so that we are pleased that they included some of our suggestions, and especially from the action plan for import safety -- that was, I believe, from -- that Secretary Leavitt put forward.

We still have a few concerns, but not enough that would keep us from signing the bill. So the President will sign that as soon as they can get it to us.

I also was going to give you some proactive reaction, if that can be done, on -- there's a district court decision in a case today that regards a civil lawsuit regarding compelling testimony from Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in front of Congress. The decision that came down, it ruled against us. We disagree with the district court's decision; we are reviewing it, and once we have had a chance to do that, we'll consider whether the decision should be appealed. And then I can update you from there.

A couple of things to note: The court did not rule on the executive privilege claim. It did not order anyone to testify on privileged matters, and it did not order anyone to produce privileged documents. It did not decide that senior advisors to the President are not entitled to immunity from compelled testimony under any circumstances, and specifically mentioned national security and foreign affairs matters as possible areas in which immunity might be available. The court did not order the executive branch to produce a private log describing documents withheld on executive privilege grounds in response to Congress's subpoena. In fact, the court held that he lacked authority to order production of a privileged law in response to a congressional subpoena.

So the court has merely directed the executive branch to produce a log as part of this litigation to assist the court in deciding which, if any, documents are subject to a claim of executive privilege.

I just give you all of that because, even if you're not writing it, I think your folks back at your bureaus are.

seen at 09:00, 31 July in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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