Showdown between congress, White House looming
The White House, under attack from Congress for allegedly firing federal prosecutors based on political affiliation, asserted executive privilege Thursday and said they could not turn over documents that could shed light on the prosecutors’ firings.
In a letter to the chairmen of the the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, President George W. Bush’s attorney asserted that White House would not turn over subpoenaed documents for former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor.
“With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation,”
White House counsel Fred Fielding wrote.
“We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) slammed President Bush’s move.
“This is a further shift by the Bush Administration into Nixonian stonewalling and more evidence of their disdain for our system of checks and balances,”
he said.
“This White House cannot have it both ways. They cannot stonewall congressional investigations by refusing to provide documents and witnesses, while claiming nothing improper occurred….Increasingly, the President and Vice President feel they are above the law - in America no one is above law.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, threatened to take legal action against the White House.
“The President’s response to our subpoena shows an appalling disregard for the right of the people to know what is going on in their government. The executive privilege assertion is unprecedented in its breadth and scope, and even includes documents that the Adminstration previously offered to provide as part of their ‘take it or leave it’ proposal,”
the Michigan Democrat said in a statement.
“This response indicates the reckless disrepect this Administration has for the rule of law. The charges alleged in this investigation are serious - including obstruction of justice and misleading Congress - and the White House should be as committed to this investigation as the Congress. At this point, I see only one choice in moving forward, and that is to enforce the rule of law set forth in these subpoenas.”
His counterpart, Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), added that the White House’s offer of a ‘deal’ was not credible.
“It’s tough to get lectured on the Constitution from the same Administration that said the Vice President is his own branch of government,”
said the Chairwoman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, which authorized the subpoenas issued by Conyers for former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
“Mr. Fielding should understand two things: that nobody in their right mind would accept a White House offer that would condone perjury, and that saying ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ for months is not actually negotiation.”
Thursday was the deadline for surrendering the documents which had been subpoenaed by Congress June 13. The White House also asserted that Miers and Taylor would not testify next month, as directed.
If neither side will budge,
“the stalemate could end up with House and Senate contempt citations and a battle in federal court over separation of powers,”
according to the Associated Press.
Bush “attempted to chart a course of cooperation” by releasing more than 8,500 pages of documents and sending Gonzales and other senior officials to testify before Congress, Fielding said in his letter, according to AP.
He noted that the Administration had offered a compromise where Miers, Taylor, Karl Rove and their deputies would be interviewed by Judiciary Committee aides behind closed door — without transcripts. Democrats refused.
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