Exclusive: Inside the White House

Dec. 11, 2007 — -- Long before much of Washington, D.C., came to life this morning, ABC News got a glimpse of the president few ever see.

In the darkness, President Bush stopped to toss a few balls to his dog, Barney, on his short walk from the White House residence to the Oval Office.

"Coming with me, Barney?" he asked his Scottish terrier.

Just after 6:30 a.m., Bush was in the Oval Office, reviewing overnight intelligence, signing a few photographs and putting the final touches on a speech.

At 7:30 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney, the director of national intelligence, a CIA briefer and the president's national security adviser huddled in the Oval Office for the daily intelligence briefing, which included the latest on the destruction of the CIA tapes.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Bush said today that he did not know about the destruction of the CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations.

The president said he was told just a few days ago.

"My first recollection of whether the tapes existed or whether they were destroyed was when [CIA director] Michael Hayden briefed me," Bush told ABC News' Martha Raddatz.

"There's a preliminary inquiry going on, and I think you'll find that a lot more data, facts, will be coming out," he said. "That's good. It will be interesting to know what the true facts are."

There was also news Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be named prime minister after his term is up — something the president said he wouldn't want to do after the U.S. election.

"I think we just better let the elections play out and see what happens," Bush said. "Just let me say this — it is not something I would want to do."

This morning the president quickly turned his focus from foreign policy to domestic policy, delivering a briefing to the press about teen drug abuse.