Scott McClellan says: ""Only five members actually showed up, despite the fact that it was scheduled for the entire commission," he said. What's more, he added, "you had another national security official under Dr. Rice who met with the commission, and I think only four showed up."
He told the press corps, "I think you need to keep that in context for your reporting."
Felzenberg said the commission never agreed to the terms in the November letter, which said that for a meeting with an assistant to the president, either the chairman or vice chairman of the commission must show up with no more than two other commissioners.
But the commission did agree to meet with Rice at her convenience, and the date and time she chose — a Saturday afternoon — limited the number of commissioners who could attend because several live far from Washington.
Tuesday, McClellan said all 10 commissioners were invited to meet with Rice on Feb. 7 and said the letter represented only "early guidelines" about meetings. Felzenberg said the commission was unaware of any such invitation.
This is the first I've read of any such prior stipulation about numbers of commissioners meeting with NCS staff. And McClellan goes on to say all 10 were invited. But their "reason" for not attending is very lame. Or else Condi is every bit as adept at rope-a-dope as GW is.
9-11 commission ping
Prairie