White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted this afternoon that the Obama administration did indeed notify Mayor Bloomerg of the president’s impending trip to Manhattan Thursday to deliver a speech on Wall Street reform.

“The mayor and his staff of course were notified,” Gibbs told reporters during his daily press briefing, which took place today abroard Air Force One, en route to Andrews Air Force Base.

“I don’t know if – the exact chronology of when it happened between of when reporters first found out about it. ”

“As you know, sometimes reporters find out about things before all the notification calls are made on certain issues. But obviously this is an issue that’s been important to Mayor Bloomberg. He’s been invited to attend the event. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to make it, but we’re always happy to be a guest of his in New York City and he can count on us coming back.”


When it was noted that Bloomberg said he had read about the president’s plans to come to the city “on the blogs,” Gibbs replied:

“Well, like I said, sometimes reporters find out about things before every notification call is made. I know he’s a very plugged-in mayor and reads a lot of blogs, so he’s obviously on top of things.”

Bloomberg tried to downplay the notification flap during an interview with CNN’s “American Morning” earlier today, allowing that the White House might have indeed informed his staff of the president’s trip without him knowing about it.

Somehow, though, I kinda doubt that.

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