Posted on 03/20/2007 5:03:53 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON (AP) -
0320dv-us-attorneys A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.
Democrats' response to his proposal was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides.
"Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability," said Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bush, in a late-afternoon statement at the White House, said, "We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants. ... I have proposed a reasonable way to avoid an impasse."
He added that federal prosecutors work for him and it is natural to consider replacing them. "There is no indication that anybody did anything improper," the president said.
Bush gave his embattled attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, a boost during an early morning call and ended the day with a public statement repeating it. "He's got support with me," Bush said.
The Senate, meanwhile, voted to strip Gonzales of his authority to fill U.S. attorney vacancies without Senate confirmation. Democrats contend the Justice Department and White House purged eight federal prosecutors, some of whom were leading political corruption investigations, after a change in the Patriot Act gave Gonzales the new authority.
Several Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barrack Obama, Joe Biden and John Edwards, have called for Gonzales' ouster or resignation. So have a handful of Republican lawmakers.
"What happened in this case sends a signal really through intimidation by purge: 'Don't quarrel with us any longer,'" said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a former U.S. attorney who spent much of Monday evening paging through 3,000 documents released by the Justice Department.
Bush said his White House counsel, Fred Fielding, told lawmakers they could interview presidential counselor Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and their deputies - but only on the president's terms: in private, "without the need for an oath" and without a transcript.
The president cast the offer as virtually unprecedented and a reasonable way for Congress to get all the information it needs about the matter.
"If the Democrats truly do want to move forward and find the right information, they ought to accept what I proposed," Bush said. "If scoring political points is the desire, then the rejection of this reasonable proposal will really be evident for the American people to see."
Bush said he would aggressively fight in court any attempt to subpoena White House aides.
"If the staff of a president operated in constant fear of being hauled before various committees to discuss internal deliberations, the president would not receive candid advice and the American people would be ill-served," he said. "I'm sorry the situation has gotten to where it's got, but that's Washington, D.C., for you. You know there's a lot of politics in this town."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is leading the Senate probe into the firings, spoke dismissively of the deal offered by the White House:
"It's sort of giving us the opportunity to talk to them, but not giving us the opportunity to get to the bottom of what really happened here."
Even without oaths, Bush aides would be legally required to tell the truth to Congress. But without a transcript of their comments, "it would be almost meaningless to say that they would be under some kind of legal sanction," Schumer complained.
Fielding's meeting on Capitol Hill came a few hours after Bush spoke with Gonzales in an early morning phone call - their first conversation since the president had acknowledged mistakes by his longtime friend and lawmakers of both parties had called for Gonzales' ouster.
The White House offered to arrange interviews with Rove, Miers, deputy White House counsel William Kelley and J. Scott Jennings, a deputy to White House political director Sara Taylor, who works for Rove.
"Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas," Fielding said in a letter to the Senate and House Judiciary committees and their ranking Republicans.
He said documents released by the Justice Department "do not reflect that any U.S. attorney was replaced to interfere with a pending or future criminal investigation or for any other improper reason."
---
Associated Press writer Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.
--
Declare Schumer an enemy combatant!
I second that. We'd just have to make sure there are no cameras around - you'd never catch him to apply the whipping (or he'd run you over to get to one).
LOL!
Thanks, yes. After asking, I found another article on Drudge saying that the right to name them without Senate approval was part of the Patriot Act, so this will need to be passed by the house and signed by the President, or a veto overridden.
I can understand why the Senate might want it's old privilege of stonewalling back, but it's disgusting that so many Republicans voted for it.
It passed the Senate today (94-2), but still needs to go to the House and to the President.
There's another article linked at Drudge. The Senate gave up its right to confirm US attorneys in the Patriot Act. So it will require a regular bill to undo that.
All but two Republicans voted to take back the confirmation right, so this could be sticky.
"Looks like the old Bush is back."
Taking bets on how soon he caves in, just like the old Bush.
Waxman has been planning this garbage for years. They won't stop, they will just move on to the next hearing/investigation on their list.
Does this apply to future administrations? Just curious
I think the whole "aides won't give me good advice if they might be called to testify" justification is crap. It pains me as a Republican to hear my President say it. Its not like testifying before Congress is some unexpected thing in the political world.
"I am so sick of our politicians. They should all be gotten rid of. I am ashamed that they can not conduct the business they were elected to do. They are too busy fighting with each other. Why don't they leave office and grow up."
Term limits
Thank god the President is not giving up anyone to another show trial, and being sent to jail for remembering something differently than another.
A banana republic we are not.
And according to what i read, he also got rid of 30 more later on ....
Term limits would solve most of the problems.........
Have Gonzales immediately indict Congressman Jefferson for fraud and influence peddling under RICO.
That should keep the socialist whackos busy for a few months.
"The Senate, meanwhile, voted to strip Gonzales of his authority to fill U.S. attorney vacancies without Senate confirmation."
It only passed the Senate; now it goes to the House.
The White House should pull an old Democratic ploy out of the hat and cry racism. Play the Hispanic card...say the Democrats want Gonzalez out because he's hispanic. Then, watch the Dems scurry for the hills and drop the whole subject.
This reminds me of the Johnson impeachment, where he was harrased by Congress with rules, laws actually, restricting his choice of cabinet officers, IIRC. That was worse, I guess, but Congress is involved in the same kind of overreaching here, it seems to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.