White House Will Deny New Request In Attorneys Probe

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White House Will Deny New Request In Attorneys Probe
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2007-07-08 23:32. Evidence

By Peter Baker, Washington Post

Bush to defy Congress, sources say.

The White House has decided to defy Congress's latest demand for information regarding the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys, sources familiar with the decision said yesterday. Such an action would escalate the constitutional struggle and propel it closer to a court showdown.

Senate and House committees have directed President Bush to provide by tomorrow a detailed justification of his executive privilege claims and a full accounting of the documents he is withholding. But White House counsel Fred F. Fielding plans to tell lawmakers that he has already provided the legal basis for the claims and will not provide a log of the documents, the sources said.

The standoff suggests that neither side is prepared to budge in the fight over documents and testimony in the widening U.S. attorney investigation. Officials in both camps said no serious negotiations are taking place to resolve the dispute. Fielding plans to follow up his letter by further asserting executive privilege later this week, the sources said, directing former White House aides Harriet E. Miers and Sara M. Taylor not to testify in response to congressional subpoenas.

The two sides increasingly believe that the matter will lead congressional Democrats to seek criminal contempt citations against the White House, which could result in a protracted court battle over the contours of the president's power to shield White House deliberations. Both sides insist that the other's legal position is weak and argue that this could be one of the most important test cases in years.

The impasse is leading to "a monumental clash between the executive and legislative branches of government," Taylor's attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, wrote in a letter sent yesterday to Fielding and leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "This clash may ultimately be resolved by the judicial branch."

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stalling, hoping they can make it to the end of the second term before the whole mess caves in and buries them.

We'll see...

Twenty years ago i would of said it would work but in todays world no. We are living in the world of the nanosecond now and it seems amazing how fast things can change.

No, i would never look them for any saving grace, they are supposed to be slow (well if they were real ones anyway).

The largely well off but disinfected British Tories engaged the revolution for their own personal gain originally. Later when writing the U.S. Constitution they left that large leg off the table on purpose hoping or least thinking that not that many people would notice. Thus we have a Bill of Rights as stop gap as it were.

The thinking a loose federation with no direct input from the public would serve them better. It worked till Lincoln, then that flaw was uncovered. The flaw that a goodly amount of people and especially a fervent majority of people could always change the direction of the government.

Today, at it's quickened pace, that people power at the other end of the spectrum of the life long robes is reclaiming that power. And you can rest assured that there is no law they will ever be able tor write that will stop them in that quest for people power.