Earlier today, President Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, which directs the State Department to compile and maintain a list of countries where violations of press freedoms occur.

The signing was open to pooled press only, and toward the end of the signing, CBS News’ Chip Reid tried to get the President to answer some questions about the Gulf Oil Spill. In an intended (on Reid’s part) irony, the President refused to answer questions at the signing of the Freedom of the Press Act. I caught up with Chip after today’s briefing to ask him about it.

Here’s the short video of the signing ceremony, which was attended by members of the Pearl family, including his son, Adam, and his widow, Mariane.

Transcript:

Q    Speaking of press freedom, could you answer a couple of questions on BP?

THE PRESIDENT:  You’re certainly free to ask them, Chip.

Q    Will you answer them?  How about a question on Iran?

THE PRESIDENT:  We won’t be answering — I’m not doing a press conference today, but we’ll be seeing you guys during the course of this week.  Okay?

Here’s what Chip had to say about the event: