Reid, LDS church leaders meet with Obama

By Lisa Mascaro

Monday, July 20, 2009 | 1:13 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined leaders of the Latter-day Saints Church today as they met with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Reid, a Mormon, met with church President Thomas Monson and Elder Dallin H. Oaks as they spoke with the president and presented Obama with five, leather-bound volumes detailing multiple generations of his family’s history.

The church has given similar genealogies to past presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Obama issued a statement thanking the church for the gifts.

“I enjoyed my meeting with President Monson and Elder Oaks,” the president said. “I'm grateful for the genealogical records that they brought with them and am looking forward to reading through the materials with my daughters. It's something our family will treasure for years to come."

Reid also thanked the church leaders “for sharing our religion’s tradition of genealogical research with the President and his family.

“I am also glad that President Obama and Elder Oaks had an opportunity to discuss their shared passion of the law,” Reid said. “Recognizing the President and First Lady's deep regard for family, I am honored that our Church can have any part in documenting their family history.”