NEW YORK (CNN) - Both the White House and a senior aide to President-elect Obama on Tuesday emphatically denied there had been any attempt on the part of President Bush - while meeting with Obama on Monday - to link a federal bailout of the struggling auto industry or a second stimulus package to passage of a Colombia free trade deal.
Those two financial packages are favored by many Democrats, including Obama, while the free trade deal remains a top priority for the outgoing administration.