[Wolf Blitzer, Anchor:] So the president of the United States emerging from the Rose Garden walking into the West Wing of the White House, going into the Oval Office after holding what is a little bit more than a 45-minute news conference, a question and answer session, with reporters. His tenth solo formal news conference since becoming president of the United States, answering a wide range of questions on domestic issues, international issues, mostly though on Iraq and his policy on Iraq. The president insisting things are moving in the right direction, though things remain very, very dangerous inside Iraq. Let's bring in our White House correspondent, our senior White House correspondent, John King. You were you there, John. You were listening. You were watching. Did the president say anything new and startling as far as his policy, first of all, on Iraq is concerned?
[John King, Cnn Correspondent:] Nothing new or startling, Wolf. The president making the case that, yes, there are setbacks and yes, Iraq is a dangerous place. But he insists progress is being made. He also is disputing a contention now being spread largely among his Democratic critics, those running for president, but also some Republicans saying that the administration is not leveling with the American people, that in public the administration says things are going well in Iraq, and yet in private we see things like a memo from the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, anonymous complaints things that are not going well in Iraq. Mr. Bush saying that he does not believe that is the case, that he is leveling and he insists always has been leveling in saying, yes, Iraq is dangerous place, yes, there are problems. Mr. Bush not complaining but chiding reporters once again today that perhaps we're not spending enough time on things like the new currency, schools opened, hospitals opening. And the president, Wolf, making clear that he believes these recent attacks are designed to get other nations to refuse to contribute troops, to get the Red Cross and humanitarian groups to pull out of Iraq, perhaps even to get the United States to pull out. Mr. Bush saying that, at least in the case of the United States, that simply will not happen Wolf.
[Blitzer:] John, the president also was asked some pretty pointed tough questions from your colleagues, the White House press corps, today. I know there was criticism in the aftermath of the news conference that he was thrown a bunch of softball questions, not yours but some of your colleagues' perhaps. This time the reporters came up with pretty tough questions to the president. What's the mood behind the scenes over there? Take us a little bit behind the scenes on the relationship between the White House press corps and the president? Because based on what I can tell, this news conference this morning came as a surprise.
[King:] Well, this did come out of the blue. The White House scheduled this at the last minute this morning. That happens every now and then. That's not a total shock. The president had a relatively open day on his schedule and decided, perhaps because of all the criticism, it would be good for him to come out. Relations between the White House and the press corps are always a bit testy. I think the questions asked at the last press conference were pretty good, as well. But we are in a period of time now where we are closer to the re-election campaign, so you have more Democratic criticism. We are in the middle of the debate over the president's $87 billion request for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in the middle of that debate, there are some tough questions from members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans. And of course, we have had violence and some chaos in Iraq in recent days. So it should not come as a surprise that this news conference was overwhelmingly dominated by questions about what is going on on the ground, what the administration's strategy is to deal with it. And, of course, people always trying to look back, because one of the criticisms, Wolf, is that this president grossly underestimated the security challenge in post-war Iraq. He disputes that. He says the strategy is still the same. But he did acknowledge today that because of these bombings, they are having to adjust the tactics. The president being quite candid about that, that he says the strategy is not going to change and will not change, but that they are having to adjust the tactics because of these increasingly sophisticated attacks on the ground in Iraq.
[Blitzer:] John, I didn't get the sense the president was indicating somebody suggesting any reconsideration, any lack of confidence in his top policy advisors, six months after he said major combat was over, major combat operations were over in Iraq when he was aboard the aircraft carrier the Abraham Lincoln. It didn't seem to me he was at all concerned, at least publicly I don't know what his private mood is publicly about the vice president, the defense secretary, the secretary of state, the national security advisor. Based on everything you know, does he seem to have still a lot of confidence in these people surrounding him?
[King:] You will never hear this president publicly criticize his inner circle. That is not the way this president operates. Does he have full confidence in them? All of his top aides insist yes, he does. But of course, you did also see the reorganize the policy shop a bit, in terms of giving Condoleeza Rice a more prominent role in shepherding the policy for post-war Iraq. Senior administration officials say that was not meant to diminish Secretary Rumsfeld, but they also tell us that it was meant to bring more voices into the debate. So some take that as the president at least wants to hear from more people than just Secretary Rumsfeld. They insist here at the White House that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate Secretary Rumsfeld's view. They say sometimes the president just wants to hear more voices involved in the debate.
[Blitzer:] Which is obviously a good idea. Thanks very much, John King, for that report.