New Executive Privilege Claim by Bush Escalates Clash Over U.S. Attorney Firings

WP: New Privilege Claim by Bush Escalates Clash Over Firings
By Peter Baker and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 10, 2007; Page A03

President Bush's move yesterday to block congressional testimony by two former aides provoked immediate condemnations from Democratic lawmakers and escalated a confrontation between the White House and Capitol Hill over the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys.

White House counsel Fred F. Fielding informed lawmakers in a letter yesterday that Bush was asserting executive privilege for the second time in two weeks regarding requested testimony by former counsel Harriet E. Miers and former political director Sara M. Taylor about the prosecutor firings....

The decisions pushed Congress and the executive branch closer to a courtroom showdown over the limits of a president's power to shield deliberations by his staff. Democrats accused the White House of stonewalling and reiterated that they would seek contempt citations if documents and testimony are not provided.

"The White House continues to try to have it both ways -- to block Congress from talking with witnesses and accessing documents and other evidence, while saying nothing improper occurred," said Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

His House counterpart, John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), said that "contrary to 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."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070900101.html?nav=hcmodule

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1288317

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Taylor will still appear, Senate Judiciary Commitee says
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/07/09/taylor/index.html

We just got off the phone with Tracy Schmaler, a spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee's Democratic majority. Schmaler told us it is her understanding that -- despite President Bush's invocation of executive privilege in regards to the testimony of former White House staffers Sara Taylor and Harriet Miers about the ongoing U.S. Attorneys scandal -- Taylor will still appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. ...

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Background info in DU Archive thread of May 28:
EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for her testimony"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x990202