Q I'm wondering about your response to charges that you, Scott McClellan, were, in fact, spinning the media -- and as a result, the American public -- when you consistently said in the Valerie Plame case that Scooter Libby and Karl Rove had nothing to do with it, and continue to say that.
MR. McCLELLAN: I've already actually addressed this question. This is relating to an ongoing investigation.
I'm sorry, tell me your name and who you're with?
Q Maria Hinojosa, Public Television Now.
MR. McCLELLAN: Okay. Nice to -- welcome to the briefing, first of all. These questions have come up; there is an ongoing investigation. And for months and months and months, we've said that we're not going to comment on the investigation while it's ongoing. And that goes back to mid-October of 2003, when the investigation was getting underway. We said, while it's an ongoing investigation, we're not going to comment on it. We're going to do our part to cooperate as the President directed us to do, and let that investigation hopefully come to a successful conclusion, because the President wants to get to the bottom of it, I want to get to the bottom of it. We want to know what the facts are. And the best way to support the special prosecutor is to let him do his work.
Now, people that work here in this room know me very well, and I'm confident in our relationship. It's a relationship that is built on trust. And I'm confident that I have done my part to earn that trust.
Q Just one last follow up. Scott, do you appreciate having reporters in this room that hold your feet to the fire? Or is it easier to do your job when they're just, "fine, okay, sounds good"?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry, I'm missing that question. I've never seen anyone say, "Okay, sounds good," in this room. We are all just doing our job. All of us in this room have a job to do, and the one thing that we share, hopefully, is that we're all doing our part to help the American people get an accurate picture of what's going on here in Washington, D.C.
Now, the media challenges me every day, and I look forward to that. It's an opportunity for us to talk about our agenda and the President's decisions and his nominees. And I'm going to vigorously defend the President's agenda, his policies, and his nominees. That is part of my job.
But I'm also here to work with each and every one of you in this room, to help the American people get an accurate account of the decisions that are being made here in Washington, D.C. And I have great respect for the people in this room that I've worked with for many years, and they're a good bunch. I have deep respect for all that they do and the hard work that they do. And nothing is ever -- nothing --
Q Okay. (Laughter.)
MR. McCLELLAN: And one final point. Nothing is ever personal in this room. We're all just doing our job, and I recognize that, and I think people in this room recognize it, as well.
And Ken is going to do his job. Go ahead, Ken.
"Just doing our job." Is it just me, or is that a rather unnerving thing to hear?
