White House Press Secretary Jay Carney meets with the press for the first time the meeting between President Obama and Speaker John Boehner that took place last night at the White House. The two are seeking an agreement to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff."
It is also the first briefing since U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced late Thursday afternoon that she was withdrawing her name for consideration as the next Secretary of State.
Ambassador Rice had been under fire from Senate Republicans for comments she made on the Sunday talk shows the weekend after Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
Carney took questions on the school shooting in Connecticut, Friday morning, after saying that the President was notified of the shooting by his homeland security advisor John Brennan and that the FBI was offering support to state and local authorities. Early reports indicate that as many as 27 people, including 18 elementary-age children, died in the shooting. The gunman is also among the dead, the Associated Press reports.