A White House official tells Fox that a female administrative employee with the Secret Service is being treated for swine flu in Normandy, France, and is in "respiratory isolation" and will remain there until "some time next week."

Other government employees who worked closely with the Secret Service employee have been put in a temporary medical quarantine, the official said.

The White House said the employee, who was not identified, is based in Atlanta and flew on a commercial flight to Paris, landing there Tuesday before heading with a team of nearly a dozen other US government employees to Normandy. The employee began showing symptoms of the H1N1 virus (otherwise known as the swine flu) on Thursday and was first treated at a small hospital in Normandy but later transferred to a bigger hospital to be placed in "respiratory isolation."

The other government employees -- described to Fox as part of the Secret Service, the US embassy and White House staff -- have been evaluated and given the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. As a precaution, they were quarantined in their Normandy hotel rooms for 24 hours. That quarantine is due to end late Friday, the official said.

The White House medical staff is in "close contact" with medical officials in Normandy. The official said it is unclear if the Secret Service employee now in respiratory isolation contracted the H1N1 virus in the US or in France.

Developing.....

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says that while he has not spoken to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about her choice of words in the 2001 remarks - "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," he is certain Sotomayor would say her word choice was "poor."

Gibbs reiterated what he's said over the past few days, that her experiences are relevant to the process of judging and personal experiences make you more aware of certain facts and cases.

When asked how he knew Sotomayor would say her word choice was "poor," Gibbs replied he's had discussions with people who have spoken with the nominee about it.

Hurricane season officially begins Monday and the Obama administration is warning people to be prepared.

Following a disaster-preparedness briefing today at FEMA headquarters, the president said the government will be ready whenever the next large storm his the U.S., but emphasized that citizens in hurricane-prone areas need to chip in as well.

"I have no greater responsibility than the safety of the American people," Obama said. "But as we enter into hurricane season, I hope that everybody who's watching is going to be paying attention and take seriously their responsibilities as citizens so that the entire country is ready."

To help residents prepare themselves appropriately for hurricane season, Mr Obama and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate introduced the web site, ready.gov.

"One of the most important things we can do is make sure the families have prepared appropriately," Obama said, as he explained the site provides information on how to formulate personal disaster plans as having a basic emergency supply kit with water, non-perishable food, a flashlight, radio, and first aid kit, as well as encouraging citizens to stay informed of weather developments and community emergency plans.

The president said that while individual states and local communities, who have the primary responsibility for preparing and responding to disasters, will have the "full resources of the federal government backing them up," there is a grave need for individuals to take some of the strain off the state, local and federal governments.

"Those people who have the capacity to plan, they will thereby relieve some of the resources that the government has to provide and we can stay focused on those folks who are most vulnerable and have the most difficulty dealing with a storm."

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has predicted a "normal" season with four to seven hurricanes likely in 2009.

For the second time in a month, President Obama headed outside the White House to grab himself a good ole American burger which had reporters asking in Friday's White House briefing "can't he get a good burger in this building?"  Press Secretary Robert Gibbs assured reporters the cheeseburgers were "pretty good" at the White House mess but went on to explain that some days the President just likes to get out and misses the "ability to walk around."

The President arrived at a “Five Guys” location near Nationals Stadium and a huge scream let out from the people sitting outside on a very warm day in Washington. Customers immediately jumped out of their seats to shake hands with the Commander-in-Chief. 

Once inside, Obama ordered himself a cheeseburger with mustard and jalapenos and then ordered a number of burgers for a number of staffers. 

The President then walked around the small restaurant saying hello to customers, snacking on peanuts and chatting with a woman and her two year old daughter.

Once the food was ready, the President paid in cash, took his two big paper bags of food and headed back to the motorcade.

###

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will enter into the next phase of her nomination process on Tuesday when she travels to Capitol Hill for meetings with Senate leadership.  She will have a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) as well as the two Senators who head the Judiciary Committee - Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL).  The White House is still trying to set up a meeting for Sotomayor to sit down with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY).  She will be escorted around Capitol Hill by Charles Schumer, the senior Senator from New York. 

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sotomayor has been busy with White House aides filling out a detailed questionnaire about her background including education, legal experiences and financial assets that will also be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee next week. 

###

"We're not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country," President Obama said, while declaring cyber threats are both a growing national security and economic threat to this country.

OBAMA/BIDEN SCHEDULE:

9:25am  The President and Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office

9:45am  The President meets with the Vice President in the Oval Office

9:55am  The President and Vice President receive the Economic Daily Briefing in the Oval Office

10:25am The President meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office

10:55am  The President delivers remarks on securing our nation's cyber infrastructure in the East Room

11:40am  The President meets with the National Economic Council Staff in the Oval Office

2:00pm Press briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

2:30pm  The President attends hurricane preparedness meeting at FEMA Headquarters in DC
MRS. OBAMA:
The First Lady will visit Bancroft Elementary School on Friday - the DC school whose students have participated in events in the White House Kitchen Garden throughout the spring. The school was selected because students and faculty manage their own garden on school grounds and healthy eating is woven into the curriculum. This event is also an extension of the First Lady's outreach to the DC community, ensuring she gets out to the communities who visit the White House.

Reading the tea leaves, no. At least not specifically.

At today's White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to go into detail over the private conversations the president had with any of his prospective Supreme Court picks. He would only characterize Obama's conversation with Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor as, "a general discussion about the constitutional interpretation" and theory of settled law.

"He left very comfortable with her interpretation of the Constitution being similar to that of his, though the bulk of the conversation was about her approach to judging," said Gibbs of the president's sit down.

When pressed if the president took that to mean that Sotomayor, who has been a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York for the last 11 years, believes in a constitutional right to privacy, Gibbs said the president was "comfortable that she shares his philosophy generally on the Constitution."

During his run for president, then candidate Obama made clear that when it comes to the abortion issue, he would stand up for choice. So why didn't the now president ask his potential nominee directly, who was raised Catholic, about her stance on the sensitive topic? Gibbs noted that Obama was careful, as previous presidents have been, not to ask specifically how nominees might rule in potential cases that could come before the Court.

So do the president and his Scotus pick see eye to eye on abortion? Gibbs would only reiterate that Obama "felt comfortable that they shared a philosophy" on their interpretation of the Constitution and is "comfortable with her judicial philosophy."

The president announced his Supreme Court pick on Tuesday. If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor would replace retiring Justice David Souter. She is expected to make visits to Capitol Hill sometime early next week.

"We don't make those decisions...Chrysler makes those decisions," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The spokesman pushed back today on accusations the administration has been unfairly targeting for closure Chrysler dealerships whose owners contributed to Republicans.

Such reports began surfacing on right leaning blogs earlier this week. The chatter seems to have increased after a lawyer representing a group of Chrysler dealers being closed, told Reuters after the deposition of a senior Chrysler executive, that the company seems to be following orders coming from the White House.

"It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers. It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the president's automotive task force," said attorney Leonard Bellavia.

The Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry is a cabinet-level group established in February to oversee the restructuring of the flailing auto industry. Gibbs maintained it is not calling the shots.

"The president's task force on autos did not pick individual dealerships," Gibbs said, "It isn't involved in picking what plants may or may not be closed. That's not the job of the president's auto task force. That's the job of the individual car company."

As part of Chrysler's bankruptcy agreement with the Obama administration, Chrysler plans to close about a quarter of its 3,000 dealerships. How they are choosing which ones to close, according to Gibbs, is up to Chrysler.

"They've got to figure out in their newly restructured world, based on the market, what their essential supply chain is. And I think those are the decisions that they made."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced at the top of his briefing today that Pittsburgh, PA will be host the next G20 summit this fall.

The meeting of the Group of 20 major and developing economies last met in London this spring. Gibbs told reporters today that following that meeting, the group decided that because many of the leaders would already be in the country for the United Nations General Assembly meeting, President Obama offered to host the G20.

Pittsburgh was chosen as the site because, "it's an area that has seen its share of economic woes in the past, but because of foresight and investment is now renewed, giving birth to renewed industries that are creating the jobs of the future," Gibbs said. "And I think the president believes it'd be a good place to highlight some of that stuff."

The G20 was established in 1999 with the intent of bringing together industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.

This fall's summit is scheduled for Sept24th-25th.