Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ Q Ari, yesterday you said that the formal charging of the Chinese American scholar was a separate issue from the plane and crew incident -- accident. Why does the White House believe there is no connection there? MR. FLEISCHER: The Chinese government arrested Gao Zhan several weeks ago, and we do not see a tie between the two events. Obviously, it predated the accident, so there can be no tie. Q -- the formal charges coming after this was a coincidence, then? MR. FLEISCHER: It's the judgment of the government, the United States government, the President, that there is no tie. ”

“ It's the right to fly in international airspace, which is why the United States, as we have said repeatedly, did nothing wrong. It is the government's right to fly in international airspace around the world. Q That doesn't rule out error by the crew of the aircraft or a number of other things which could be offensive that an aircraft could do in international airspace. ”

“ And as Senate watchers know, those votes are often revisited rather quickly after they're taken. So the fact that a vote fell one way one moment is not a sure indication it will remain that way. The President actually took heart in the fact that the Democrats have a new position on taxes, that they now support a tax cut in excess of $1.1 trillion, while he continues to think the right number is $1.6 trillion. So it's further evidence of the Democrats moving toward the President, albeit, they are not at the point where the President himself is, they continue to move in the right direction. ”

“ Q Ari, what is the evidence that leads U.S. officials to now be encouraged about talks going on with China to resolve this? Or have talks turned cold? MR. FLEISCHER: There's intensive diplomacy underway. The United States and China are heavily engaged in their discussions. There was a meeting at the State Department this morning between Deputy Secretary Armitage and Ambassador Yang, and in the course of that meeting the United States pressed again for access to the crew, for the release of the crew. And we remain in a sensitive stage of those negotiations, of those discussions. ”

“ Well, as the President said publicly after he talked to Ambassador Prueher who met with the servicemen and women, that all Americans will be relieved to know that they've been treated well and that their health is well. ”

“ Q Is the President employing any private citizens as go-betweens, including his father? MR. FLEISCHER: We discussed yesterday at great length the question of the President and his father. I'm not going to go beyond what I indicated yesterday. Q Not a private conversation with his father, is he employing for the government a private citizen as a go-between? ”

“ Can I ask you -- Q -- is something happening to this low-level official who did leak incorrect information? Is he being, or she being punished in some way? MR. FLEISCHER: No, I'm sure that there's just a discussion underway to make certain that people in the agencies know that it is Secretaries who make decisions. Q Ari, on the budget, Senate Republicans are saying part of the reason the President's plan lost yesterday is because he wasn't doing enough, that he's not engaged enough, he wasn't phone-calling enough, wasn't trying to lobby enough, he's just not engaged enough. ”

“ So there is cause for concern, of course, because our crew remains in China. And the President is concerned; that's why he spoke out as he did. And I think the American people have cause for concern about Americans not coming home. Q Is China showing any good faith here in this negotiation? MR. FLEISCHER: Again, there remain discussions at a very sensitive stage. I'm going to refrain from characterizing them one way or other, in order to allow the most productive events to develop. Q Ari, could we fix the budget for a minute? Q A couple more on China. ”