Two aides, Mr. Ricchetti and Bruce R. Lindsey, a White House lawyer, briefed the president on the decision and gave him a copy of it.

Late Tuesday, presidential aides briefed lawmakers about the proposal.

Once, after some military aides briefed Mr. Reagan and a group of aides with a slide show, the lights came up to find five out of the six, including the President, fast asleep.

On Jan. 26, a senior aide to Mr. Rove briefed G.S.A. employees about which Democratic members of Congress the Republican Party hoped to unseat in 2008.

That decision came after top aides briefed Mr. Clinton and Vice President Al Gore about their findings in the Oval Office late Thursday.

An aide briefed him on the first event of the day, a town hall meeting at a school in Walpole, population 4,000, saying, "It's a very small town."

At the time, Michael Gove's aides briefed journalists that this was just positioning ahead of Clegg's party conference.

But over the last two days, mayoral aides briefed various city officials about the bill, including the City Council Speaker, Peter F. Vallone.

Waiting for the pilot to finish her safety check, an aide briefed him on the day's events.

I have brought my aide, Colonel Rozhdestvenskiy, to brief us in on it.