WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors. ...
In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers' demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege.
''You may be assured that the president's assertion here comports with prior practices in similar contexts, and that it has been appropriately documented,'' the letter said.
Retorted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers:
''Contrary what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally,'' the Michigan Democrat said in a statement. ...
''The committees have already prejudged the question, regardless of the production of any privilege log,'' Fielding wrote. ''In such circumstances, we will not be undertaking such a project, even as a further accommodation.''
Leahy also questioned the explanation.
''I have to wonder if the White House's refusal to provide a detailed basis for this executive privilege claim has more to do with its inability to craft an effective one,'' he said in a statement.
It must somehow feel good for Fred Fielding to burrow back into the Watergate bunker.
Is there anyone left in America who is reassured by a "trust us" plea from this Administration?
Apparently this Administration feels it has little to lose in further alienating those it has already lost. G!d help us for the coming year and a half.
The streets beckon.
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