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Inside Politics

White House defies congressional subpoenas

Story Highlights

NEW: Committee chairman accuses Bush of "Nixonian stonewalling"
• Claim of executive privilege could set up constitutional showdown
• White House says it won't turn over papers relating to fired prosecutors
• Subpoenas demanded papers of former WH counsel, former political director
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Thursday refused to comply with subpoenas sent by House and Senate committees requesting documents about the firing of several U.S. attorneys last year.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, blasted the decision, calling the assertion of executive privilege "a Nixonian stonewall" and saying the committee will "take the steps necessary" to force compliance.

"Today the White House has ended its charade of empty proposals and revealed its disdain for checks and balances," Leahy said. "... Increasingly the president and the vice president believe they are above the law. In America no one -- no one -- is above the law.

"We'll take the necessary steps to enforce our subpoenas, backed by the full force of the law, so the Congress and American people can get to the full truth behind this matter."

White House Counsel Fred Fielding informed Leahy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of the president's decision in a letter that said the administration "will not be making any production in response to these subpoenas for documents" and had informed two former aides to do the same.

"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," Fielding wrote. "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."

Fielding wrote that Bush was invoking executive privilege in order to guarantee that presidential advisers could speak with the president without fear of having their candid opinions and frank advice brought into the public arena.

The committees are investigation the firing of several U.S. attorneys last year and whether political considerations were behind them. The controversy has led many Democrats -- and some key Republicans -- to call for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales and several other officials have testified before one or both of the committees, and the Justice Department has released thousands of documents about the firings. Democrats say the documents and testimony so far have indicated White House involvement in the process, and so have sought further documents and testimony from the president's office.

Bush had offered to have several aides and former aides -- including former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor -- testify in private with no oath and no transcript.

Leahy and Conyers rejected that offer and issued the subpoenas earlier this month.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush's offer had been withdrawn.

"All the offers are off the table," he said. "Subpoenas -- if the subpoenas come off the table, the offers go back on the table."

Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that taking the president up on that offer would be a better option than years of litigation.

"I think we ought to give consideration to bringing in those individuals and finding out what they know under the president's terms," he said. "It doesn't preclude us from using the subpoenas at a later time."

Specter said he disagreed with Bush on the part of his offer rejecting a transcript but was prepared to accept the other terms in the interest of completing the investigation and perhaps providing "impetus to get a new attorney general."

"If we go to two years of litigation, what's the point?" he said. "I'm sure after two years you won't have Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. I doubt the new president would appoint him."

As long as Gonzales continues to serve as attorney general, he said, the Justice Department "is in total disarray."

Specter has not called for Gonzales' resignation, but he has said the Justice Department has been unable to function while its leadership is embroiled in controversy.


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White House Counsel Fred Fielding, seen in a file photo, told Congress on Thursday the White House will not turn over subpoenaed documents.

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