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The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States.

Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees ? and, by extension, to themselves.

?These are complicated companies,? one CEO said. Offered another: ?We?re competing for talent on an international market.?

But President Barack Obama wasn?t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public?s reaction to such explanations. ?Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn?t buying that.?

?My administration,? the president added, ?is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.?

The fresh details of the meeting ? some never before revealed ? come from an account provided to POLITICO by one of the participants. A second source inside the meeting confirmed the details, and two other sources familiar with the meeting offered additional information.

The accounts demonstrate that despite the public comments on both sides that the meeting was cordial, the tone in the room was in fact one of mutual wariness. The titans of finance ? men used to being the most powerful man in almost any room ? sized up a new president who made clear in ways big and small that he expected them to change their ways.

There were signs from the outset that this was a business event, not a social gathering. At each place around the table sat a single glass of water. No ice. For those who finished their glass, no refills were offered. There was no group photograph taken of the CEOs with the president, which typically happens at ceremonial White House gatherings but not at serious strategy sessions.

?The only way they could have sent a more Spartan message is if they had served bread along with the water,? says a person who attended the meeting. ?The signal from Obama?s body language and demeanor was, ?I?m the president, and you?re not.??

According to the accounts of sources inside the room, President Obama told the CEOs exactly what he expects from them, and pushed back forcefully when they attempted to defend Wall Street?s legendarily high-paying ways.