Bush Won’t Supply Subpoenaed Documents

06/28/2007

By William Branigin and Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 28, 2007


The White House said today it would not comply with congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony relating to the firings of federal prosecutors last year, setting up a potential constitutional confrontation over its claim of executive privilege.

In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, President Bush's counsel, Fred F. Fielding, said the White House refuses to turn over documents that were subpoenaed by the two committees on June 13. The deadline for handing over most of them was today.

"I write at the direction of the President to advise and inform you that the President has decided to assert executive privilege and therefore the White House will not be making any production in response to these subpoenas for documents," Fielding wrote in the letter to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"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," Fielding said. "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."

The committees are seeking the documents to determine the extent of White House involvement in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. That action by the Justice Department has caused an uproar in Congress and prompted many Democrats and some Republicans to call for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

In a separate action, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday issued subpoenas for White House documents related to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. The White House did not immediately say whether it would turn over those documents by the July 18 deadline. The subpoenas were delivered to the offices of the president, Vice President Cheney, Bush's national security adviser and the Justice Department.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, would not address the issue of the new subpoenas. If Congress insists on those subpoenas, "we will have to deal with it . . . but I am not going to speculate at this point," he said.

The official said what happens next "is entirely up to Congress," and he described the letter to Leahy and Conyers as "an invitation if they wish to resume negotiations." But he did not make it clear what there is to negotiate.

Some senators have said they might be willing to accept private interviews with White House officials if a transcript were made. But the senior administration official indicated this was unacceptable. Bush wants to provide information, the official said, without appearing to provide testimony.

In response to today's rebuff by the White House, Leahy said: "Increasingly, the president and vice president feel they are above the law. In America no one is above law."

READ MORE: Click HERE