Aboard Air Force One yesterday afternoon White House press secretary Dana Perino said she was unaware of any discussions over a possible Citigroup bailout.

Described by the WSJ as “marathon talks” between Citi & the Treasury, Perino was either being cagy or was just left in the dark.

Bush will hold a press conference outside of the Treasury today at 10:35am, perfect time for someone to ask.

From Press report:

Q There’s been some speculation that Citigroup might be rescued by the federal government. Do you know of any talks going on between Citigroup and —

MS. PERINO: I don’t.

Q Is Citigroup one of those items that’s too big to fail?

MS. PERINO: You’re going to have to call the Treasury Department. I don’t have anything for you. I’ve been here in Lima, Peru, and any talks like that would take place between the Treasury Department, not at the White House.

- Good morning, the government just gave yet another bailout saving Citigroup which you probably thought wasn’t even having problems.

- Citigroup largely hit this mess because the Treasury decided NOT to spend the bailout $ the way Congress approved. Instead of buying up bad loans the Treasury started buying shares in financial institutions leaving Citi holding toxic assets it thought the government would buy. The new plan? Potentially creating bad government banks where these bad assets will be owned by taxpayers.

- You were pissed at $700 billion? See how you feel with 7.4 trillion or half of the nations entire earning last year. That amount appears to be what the government is willing to spend to “save” the financial system.

- Speaking of $700 billion, that is the number Democrats want to spend on a new stimulus package

- Obama & Joe Biden will hold a press conference to announce their economic team today

Surprise! While you were expecting to wake up today and hear more about autobailouts the government decided to surprise us all with a bailout instead of Citigroup. Happy Thanksgiving!

Best of all this massive government bailout could result in a whole new institution, a bad bank where bad mortgages go! Think of it as the naughty chair in the corner of the Treasury where all those nasty mortgages will go until they have learned the error of their ways. If they don’t? Well Citi won’t have to worry about it, their terrible judgement will no longer be responsible for these ill conceived loans. That will be the taxpayers job!