Richard L. Siewert Jr.

“ The President's worked extraordinarily hard over the last eight years for the American people through some very difficult decisions. We confronted an economy that was, frankly, a mess, and the President helped put it back together and clean it up and put America on a solid footing. ”

“ The prepared draft that he had certainly harkened back to the President's arrival here in Washington, about eight years ago today, where he promised to renew America and talk -- thank the American people for their support in that effort and reflect a little bit upon the progress we've made, look forward a little bit into the future. Since it's a relatively short address, he probably won't have time to cover some of what we've accomplished here. So I can summarize that for you. We have, as you know, the longest economic expansion in American history, a record 115 months now. ”

“ Q When does the moving van actually roll up? MR. SIEWERT: Well, I think it's been an evolving process. We've obviously moved many things to Chappaqua already, and the house is pretty well furnished and stocked up there. But they need to make decisions about what will go to the house in Washington as well, and what will end up in Little Rock, at the library. So these things, I think, have been going on. We've sent a lot of material to Little Rock, already, for storage there, and I think the President had a chance to look at that storage facility the last time he was in Little Rock, in November. ”

“ Q Is it true that you're going to have all White House staff computers taken down tonight? MR. SIEWERT: I think it's a rolling process. We are losing, I think, e-mail capability this evening, so we'll probably have to go back to the pre-Clinton stone ages when technology wasn't as far-ranging and important as it is today. But we'll find a way to get by with the old fax and paper. Q How about hard disks. Will they go also tonight? ”

“ And that includes work on restoring opportunity to those who haven't shared in the economic recovery over the last eight years. That includes work that he's done around the world, particularly in the poorest parts of the world. ”

“ And the economy's grown on average 4 percent over the last eight years. We've created more than 22 million new jobs, which you may have heard, and the highest home ownership in American history right now. ”

“ The Bush team's been in here virtually every night, at some level or another, to walk around, take a look at the place, see how it works. I know -- I did this job myself, for the Clinton transition in '92. We did not have that opportunity. So we've been doing everything we can to make it easier for them to get settled in, and get to work right away. Q Why did you not have an opportunity? Were you refused? MR. SIEWERT: I don't know. Some people were very helpful, but generally it was a little bit tougher to get information and figure out where things were in '92 then it is today. ”

“ But I don't think that -- I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but there are some people that they've asked to stay on. In each agency there's usually a person who's designated to stay on and ensure that the transition runs smoothly. ”

“ If they come in here and find someone that they don't particularly want working here -- I don't even know who that would be, but there are a fair number of career staff here, and they could certainly make their own decisions about staffing when they get in here. ”

“ He has a lot of options and he wants to spend a couple weeks, a month or two resting and thinking about how he wants to tackle the challenges of the ex-presidency, and I don't think he's made any big, final decisions. Q Has he made any commitments for public speaking? MR. SIEWERT: Not that I'm aware of. You should check with -- I know they're obviously planning on those. I don't know if he's made any specific commitments myself, but you can check with Bob Barnett, his personal attorney who is handling those matters for him in the post-presidency. I don't think we can here, legally. ”

“ Is the President going to do anything like that tonight? MR. SIEWERT: He may. But I think it will be on the order stressing the importance of remaining engaged in the world and continuing to confront the challenges that America faces as the preeminent superpower in the world. That may be relatively oblique, and as I said he's still working on it, there may be some changes. He is going to put his own imprint on it today. He's got a lot of time today to work on it, and we'll let you know as we get a little bit closer. Q Does he have a job? ”

“ Based on their own ideas, they will have a full chance to review them when they're in the White House and in power. But we will reserve the right at the time in discussions with them to exercise presidential authority up until the last days. Q Jake, there are some legal problems with leaving hard drives behind, right? MR. SIEWERT: I have no idea. I know that Archives have to move on to the -- our electronic records have to move on to them. Q Didn't the Bush people tell you in '92 that there were some national security consideration or some kind of legal considerations? ”

“ I think President Bush was greeted in Houston by some well-wishers and we will do the same. A brief rundown on Saturday, just for those -- this is all somewhat tentative, but I expect that around 10:30 a.m. or so, they will greet the President-elect -- Mr. and Mrs. Clinton will greet the President-elect and Mrs. Bush at the White House here. They traditionally have a short, informal -- Q North Portico? MR. SIEWERT: We're working through a lot of these logistical issues with the Bush transition team. They then leave for the Capitol, where they go inside, off the -- Q About 1100 a.m. they leave? ”