"Sitting at a table with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to his right and Mitchell to his left, Obama praised the special envoy...Across the
table sat a number of National Security Council aides, from Obama's right to his left: senior director for the Middle East and North Africa Dan Shapiro, executive secretary of the NSC Mara Rudman, deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.), chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and Antony Blinken, the National Security Adviser to Biden. Not seated, but standing and present, Denis McDonough, director of strategic communications for the NSC."