Chapter 47

I was a little past the fifteen-minute break before I was able to make it back to the news room. I had ignited a fire storm in Canada with my comments earlier. The Canadian prime minister had called wanting an immediate conference; he was going to wait.

There was a tall stool for me to sit on behind the new podium. The podium had been changed while I was away to a wraparound one with three slightly elevated screens on it. The one on the left so my aides could update me while I was answering questions. The one in the middle a teleprompter.

And on right was a backup teleprompter. The middle section on the flat part was where I could write notes or place the folder if I was using one for a speech.

There was also a second shelf with freshly made coffee pot with a warmer, napkins, ice bucket, hand wipes and small paper plates. There was also notepads and pens. Someone else must have been expecting the Q&A session to go long.

It had been in the hall for several weeks and I had gone through training on it several times to get the feel of it and how the things worked. I Liked some of the features, I hated some of them.

I took one of the paper plates and started to the donut table down the level where the media was only to be met by an agent.

‘‘Point out the ones you want boss I will get them for you,’’ he said.

I guess I was never going to shake off the ‘Boss’ label. Everybody was comfortable with it so what the heck. I may have deserved the respect that ‘Mad-am President’ carried in a public setting. But I was comfortable with BJ or Boss with my staff and friends.

I took a bite and a sip of the hot coffee and then several more sitting in the chair. I looked out over the media; they were waiting, getting fidgety while they were forced to wait. I was beginning to understand the power of the office.

Were they a pack of blood hounds waiting for a bone to be thrown to them or pack of wolves waiting to pounce on the new born calf?

‘‘OK ladies and gentlemen let’s get started. We are going to do this in segments with the first on the Kentucky incident. I’m going to start on the front row and work towards right.

‘‘Charlie you’re first,’’ I said.

‘‘The national desk wants to know how and where you think you have the authority to do this?’’ he said.

‘‘Not being a constitutional expert or a legal mind, I consulted those that are. I have six of the most qualified constitutional experts that I routinely use to answer my questions on my personal staff. I made that call on Saturday when all this mess started to unfold. This time I also asked a very respected retired supreme court justice to sit in on the video calls. I said.

‘‘The seven met at my eastern shore home on Sunday with me. I listened and learned. When the six - hour meeting was over I had two pages of instructions in an order that I had follow to be constitutionally legal’’ I said as I held up the two pages.

‘‘Also, in those instructions were four emergency appeals to the Supreme court to challenge laws that past congresses had attempted to use to reduce the power and authority on an incoming president,’’ I said.

‘‘Those appeals were hand delivered to the court Monday morning. The court has agreed to hear arguments on them tomorrow under an emergency request based on the events of the last couple days,’’ I said.

‘‘Roger you’re next,’’ I said.

‘‘There was a comment out of a Kentucky today that the agent said the gun just went off was the words used,’’ he said.

‘‘No, it cannot happen that way there are several things wrong with that,’’ I said.

‘‘Will a Secret Service agent bring me an unloaded MP5, please,’’ I said.

‘‘An MP5 has a selector lever, one position is safe meaning it won’t fire if the trigger is pulled. The next position semi auto meaning it only fires one round when the trigger is pulled the trigger must be pulled each time,’’ ‘‘The next position is either a two or three round burst depending on the serial number and the agency that ordered the weapon each time the trigger is pulled. A field change of the selector can change the burst number. The final position is full auto, meaning when the trigger is pulled and held, it fires until it empties the clip,’’ I said.

‘‘For it to operate there has to be a round in the chamber for the sequence of firing at any selector position other than in ‘safe,’’ I said ‘‘The selector positions have a definite click that can be felt when it is changed plus the position indicator is stamped on the receiver and the safe position is marked with an S. When the selector is moved out of safe a red circle is uncovered indicating it is ready to fire,’’ I said.

The agent was back with the MP5 I double checked that there was no clip in it and no round in the chamber.

‘‘If you want to see what I just stated the agent can show them to you,’’ I said as motioned the agent to the news group.

Every single reporter had to look at the markings and feel the clicks as the selector was changed.

‘‘A JBG we own twenty thousand MP5’s and probably a hundred twenty thousand M16, Glock pistols and other rifles. In training the security department runs hundreds of thousands of rounds through them and to my knowledge there has never been one to just fire- go off,’’ I said.

‘‘One thing that I taught to all JBG security was never use the full auto position. It is not needed unless you are storming pillboxes. It just eats up too much ammunition and most of the shots go wild. Another thing I stressed was never to ride with one in the chamber. Chamber the round after exiting the vehicle. I understand that there was a weapons discharge in a vehicle coming across the field,’’ I said.

‘‘If it fires it was intentional, careless handling, or just plain stupidity,’’ I said.

I answered questions for ten more minutes on the Kentucky incident before shutting them down.

‘‘The next questions are on the China Sea collision with the USS Nevada, are there any questions regarding that?’’ I said.

‘‘Why was there a collision in the first place?’’ one asked.

‘‘There were a couple possible reasons for that and I’m sure the investigation will give more and in more detail. What I do know was the Nevada was dealing with electrical gremlins with this voyage that were affecting various systems,’’ I said.

‘‘The Nevada was traveling at that depth to take advantage of thermals that help with speed and masking abilities -all navies do not just us,’’ I said.

‘‘As indicated earlier the 830.5 was a dead sub. From all appearances there were no mechanical or electronic signatures emitting from the sub. Even the newest sub emits something,’’ I said.

‘‘When will a description or photographs of the debris be released?’’ one asked.