Bush, Cheney Meet With 9/11 Panel

President cites 'good discussion'

Thursday, April 29, 2004

(3:56 PM ET) (19:56 GMT))

The Cable News Network

CNN's John King and Sean Loughlin contributed to this report

If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have met with them in the first place. We answered all their questions.

-- President Bush

President Bush: "I'm glad I did it."

Image Credit: The Cable News Network

WASHINGTON -- CNN
President Bush said Thursday he "answered every question" posed to him by the 9/11 commission during what was described as an extraordinary session at the White House with the panel investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It was wide-ranging, it was important, it was just a good discussion," Bush told reporters in the White House Rose Garden, shortly after the closed-door session ended.

The entire 10-member bipartisan commission -- known formally as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States -- attended the meeting in the Oval Office.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney answered questions from the commissioners for more than three hours.

The president dismissed suggestions that he appeared with Cheney to coordinate stories.

"If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have met with them in the first place," Bush said. "We answered all their questions."

Bush said it was important for him and Cheney to appear together so that commission members could "see our body language... how we work together."

Bush described the session as "cordial," but declined to provide any details about topics discussed. He said he was never advised by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales -- who attended the session, along with two members of his staff -- not to answer a question.

* 'We are vulnerable'

* No transcript

(More: CNN.com / Inside Politics)

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Dan