And so the constitutional battle begins. For only the second time in its six-plus years in office, the White House today asserted executive privilege after the House and Senate judiciary committees subpoenaed White House documents about the firing of the eight U.S. attorneys.
Update: You can read the letter from White House counsel Fred Fielding here.
“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,” White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. “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.”
Thursday was the deadline for surrendering the documents. The White House also made clear that (former counsel Harriet) Miers and (ex-political director Sara) Taylor would not testify next month, as directed by the subpoenas, which were issued June 13. The stalemate could end up with House and Senate contempt citations and a battle in federal court over separation of powers.
In his letter, Fielding said Bush had “attempted to chart a course of cooperation” by releasing more than 8,500 pages of documents and sending Gonzales and other senior officials to testify before Congress. The White House also had offered a compromise in which Miers, Taylor, White House political strategist Karl Rove and their deputies would be interviewed by Judiciary Committee aides in closed- door sessions, without transcripts. Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Conyers of Michigan, the chairs of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, have rejected that offer.
On the other hand, Fielding said Bush “was not willing to provide your committees with documents revealing internal White House communications or to accede to your desire for senior advisors to testify at public hearings.
“The reason for these distinctions rests upon a bedrock presidential prerogative: for the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisors and between those advisors and others within and outside the Executive Branch,” Fielding said.
A third claim of executive privilege is probably not far behind. Fielding’s move surely foreshadows the other looming battle between the Senate Judiciary Committee and the White House: yesterday’s subpoenas for documents about the administration’s warrantless surveillance program.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has a business meeting at 10 this morning. Stay tuned for its response to Fielding.
Update: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, says the White House is engaged in “Nixonian stonewalling.”
