In a scene from a new documentary, Hillary Clinton thanks Peter Paul for hosting an Aug. 12, 2000, Hollywood gala and fundraiser for her Senate campaign

Whether Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is a military leader is for the people of New York and the military to decide, according to a spokeswoman for President Bush.

The issue came up because of Clinton's choice to be in California on a campaign trip instead of in a ceremony this week at which President Bush posthumously awarded the nation's highest military honor to Navy Seal Lt. Michael Murphy of New York.

The question came from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House. He asked: "When the president posthumously awarded our nation's highest military honor to Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy of New York, Sen. [Charles] Schumer of New York was present. But New York's other U.S. senator was absent, 'campaigning in California,' her office explained. And my question: Does the White House believe that any political campaigning justified this New York candidate for … commander-in-chief of our armed forces being absent from this ceremony for a killed-in-action U.S. Navy hero?"

"I don't know – look, I don't know the details surrounding that senator's schedule, and I'll let the people of New York and the people of the military decide that," said Dana Perino, Bush's spokeswoman.

The award for Murphy, presented to his parents, is the third Medal of Honor bestowed on the war on terror, all posthumously.

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Murphy, of Patchogue on Long Island, was the 29-year-old officer who commanded a four-man SEAL team doing reconnaissance. He was given the assignment of capturing or killing a high-ranking Taliban leader in the Hindu Kush mountains behind enemy lines.

However, the team came under fire from as many as 100 insurgents.

Murphy, already wounded, moved out from behind cover in search of open air for a radio signal to seek help for his comrades. He was shot in the back, dropped the transmitter, but picked it up and completed the call.

In a second question, Kinsolving asked: "There are reports that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delegated key inspection requirements for Mexican trucks to a non-governmental trade organization. And my question: How can this nation's road, safety and border security be maintained when such responsible positions are turned over to organizations holding multiple loyalties?

"I have not heard of that before," said Perino.

As WND reported, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delegated key inspection requirements for Mexican trucks to a non-governmental trilateral trade association, whose goal is to impose North American standards on all commercial motor vehicles operating in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

Since the early 1980s, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, or CVSA, operating as a non-governmental organization, has quietly knit together the motor-vehicle agencies in the three countries, building a common regulatory continental structure below the radar of public opinion, available now to function as the backbone of the FMCSA effort to allow approved Mexican trucking companies to run their long-haul rigs throughout the United States.

According to a Colorado law enforcement document obtained by WND, the FMCSA has made arrangements for the CVSA to provide inspection decals to all Mexican trucks who pass inspection in the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck NAFTA demonstration project.

The CVSA is a non-profit association composed of "state, provincial, and federal officials responsible for the administration and enforcement of motor carrier safety laws in the United States, Canada and Mexico."

CVSA membership includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, all 13 Canadian provinces, Mexico, and various U.S. territories, including Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Do you have a tough question you'd like to ask the White House? WND's MR. PRESIDENT! forum is your big chance.

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