Miers to Invoke Privilege, But Conyers Calls Her Anyway

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers will comply with the president’s assertion of executive privilege, her lawyer wrote the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. Nevertheless, Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and subcomittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) have asked Miers to appear anyway.

The committee subpoenaed Miers last month, ordering her to appear this Thursday. In a letter to Conyers yesterday, Miers’ lawyer George Manning wrote that Miers is “subject to conflicting commands, with Congress demanding the production of information that the Counsel to the President has informed her she is prohibited from disclosing.” He went on, overstating the president’s power to stop Miers from testifying:

Ms. Miers is, of course, respectful of her obligations to respond appropriately to the subpoena issued and served upon her. In these circumstances, however, as I am sure you know, Ms. Miers has no choice other than to comply with direction given her by Counsel to the president in his letters mentioned above. This is particularly so because, as the members of the Committee are aware, the assertion of the privilege in this circumstance is supported by the thorough and reasoned opinion of the Solicitor General of the United States….

Accordingly, and will all due respect, I must inform you that in light of the President’s assertion of Executive Privilege, Ms. Miers cannot provide the documents and testimony that the Committee seeks.

As I reported yesterday, Miers does in fact have a choice. She could choose to defy the president’s direction, though the move would certainly send the battle to court. You can read Manning’s letter here.

Conyers was straightforward in his reply, saying that he was just writing to confirm that Miers would be appearing Thursday:

I understand from your letter that Ms. Miers may decline to produce documents or answer questions based on your interpretation of letters you have received from the White House, and those claims will be considered at the hearing, but it is of course incumbent on Ms. Miers to appear at the hearing pursuant to the subpoena.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has taken the same approach to Karl Rove’s former aide Sara Taylor, who’s scheduled to appear before his committee tomorrow.