H
Harry Hope
Guest
From The Washington Post, 6/30/07:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902082.html
Bush Is Told to Justify Executive Privilege
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page A02
The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees yesterday
ratcheted up their fight with President Bush over documents on the
firing of U.S. attorneys, sending the White House a barbed letter
demanding that the president back down from a claim of executive
privilege -- or give Congress a detailed explanation for withholding
each document.
In the letter to the White House counsel, Rep. John Conyers Jr.
(D-Mich.) and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) accused the administration
of a "veil of secrecy . . . unprecedented and damaging to the
tradition of open government."
The correspondence came a day after the White House invoked executive
privilege, for the second time in Bush's tenure, to block the release
of internal e-mails and other documents that congressional
investigators are seeking to clarify what role Bush's senior staff
played in the Justice Department's removal of nine chief federal
prosecutors last year.
The firings have triggered bipartisan calls for Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales to resign.
Yesterday's letter marks Congress's first move toward enforcing
subpoenas issued by the committees this month.
The lawmakers had sought documents and testimony from former White
House political director Sara M. Taylor and former White House Counsel
Harriet E. Miers.
Internal Justice e-mails show they were involved in the dismissals.
The committee chairmen told the White House to provide a signed letter
from Bush asserting executive privilege, as well as a description of
each withheld document, a list of who has seen the documents, and the
legal basis for arguing that they may be shielded from public view.
That demand, with a July 9 deadline, is the beginning of several steps
lawmakers are empowered to take to try to overcome the executive
privilege claim.
Those steps could culminate in Congress voting to find the president
in criminal contempt and to refer the matter to a federal prosecutor
with a recommendation to issue an indictment.
Neither Leahy nor Conyers, whose panels are leading the investigation
into the Justice Department and the firings, have said how far they
intend to pursue the matter legally.
Their letter says they "will appropriately enforce our subpoenas
backed by the full force of the law."
___________________________________________________
Nice
Harry
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902082.html
Bush Is Told to Justify Executive Privilege
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page A02
The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees yesterday
ratcheted up their fight with President Bush over documents on the
firing of U.S. attorneys, sending the White House a barbed letter
demanding that the president back down from a claim of executive
privilege -- or give Congress a detailed explanation for withholding
each document.
In the letter to the White House counsel, Rep. John Conyers Jr.
(D-Mich.) and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) accused the administration
of a "veil of secrecy . . . unprecedented and damaging to the
tradition of open government."
The correspondence came a day after the White House invoked executive
privilege, for the second time in Bush's tenure, to block the release
of internal e-mails and other documents that congressional
investigators are seeking to clarify what role Bush's senior staff
played in the Justice Department's removal of nine chief federal
prosecutors last year.
The firings have triggered bipartisan calls for Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales to resign.
Yesterday's letter marks Congress's first move toward enforcing
subpoenas issued by the committees this month.
The lawmakers had sought documents and testimony from former White
House political director Sara M. Taylor and former White House Counsel
Harriet E. Miers.
Internal Justice e-mails show they were involved in the dismissals.
The committee chairmen told the White House to provide a signed letter
from Bush asserting executive privilege, as well as a description of
each withheld document, a list of who has seen the documents, and the
legal basis for arguing that they may be shielded from public view.
That demand, with a July 9 deadline, is the beginning of several steps
lawmakers are empowered to take to try to overcome the executive
privilege claim.
Those steps could culminate in Congress voting to find the president
in criminal contempt and to refer the matter to a federal prosecutor
with a recommendation to issue an indictment.
Neither Leahy nor Conyers, whose panels are leading the investigation
into the Justice Department and the firings, have said how far they
intend to pursue the matter legally.
Their letter says they "will appropriately enforce our subpoenas
backed by the full force of the law."
___________________________________________________
Nice
Harry
