Posted on 09/06/2001 8:27:25 PM PDT by freedomnews
Bush may invoke executive privilege
Wants Justice documents kept secret
By John Solomon
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush is prepared to invoke executive privilege if Congress demands to see documents about prosecutors' decisions in three Clinton-era cases, administration officials said Wednesday.
The claim, if made, would be Bush's first known use of executive privilege, a doctrine recognized by the courts to ensure presidents can get candid advice in private without fear of it becoming public.
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales recommended that Bush make the privilege claim if a Republican-led House committee subpoenas the memos or seeks to question Attorney General John Ashcroft about them, the officials told The Associated Press.
The House Government Reform Committee prepared subpoenas demanding the disputed documents and planned to serve Ashcroft today, setting up a possible legal showdown.
The officials said the administration has researched at least four other instances in which executive privilege was cited involving similar documents.
Executive privilege is best known for the unsuccessful attempts by former Presidents Nixon and Clinton to keep evidence secret in impeachment investigations.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., the chairman of the House committee, said the Bush administration's stance threatened Congress' ability to oversee the executive branch.
"While I have a great deal of respect for the attorney general, he has announced a new policy that broadens executive privilege," Burton said. "If this unprecedented policy is permitted to stand, Congress will not be able to exercise meaningful oversight of the executive branch."
Burton's committee has for months been seeking Justice Department memos about prosecutors' decisions in cases involving Democratic fund raising, a former Clinton White House official and a former federal drug enforcement agent.
A senior administration official said while the decisions were made during Clinton's presidency, Bush had accepted Gonzales' recommendation and was prepared to invoke the privilege and create a clear policy that prosecutors' discussionsshould be off-limits from congressional scrutiny.
White House lawyers and the president concluded "the fair administration of justice requires full and complete deliberations and that most often can best be accomplished when prosecutors think through their options in private," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The claim would be the latest in a string of efforts by the new administration to restrain the flow of information to Congress about private deliberations.
Vice President Cheney has rebuffed requests by the General Accounting Office and a Democratic congressman to divulge information about people he met with and how he helped develop Bush's energy policy.
And a Senate committee chaired by Sen. Joseph Lieberman was initially turned down when it demanded several documents detailing the administration's decision to review regulations enacted by Clinton. Eventually, the administration allowed the committee to review the memos, but an aide to Lieberman said officials sent a clear message they would assert their right to withhold documents.
Ashcroft indicated last week the administration intended to reverse the practice of sharing prosecutors' deliberative documents with congressional committees.
Several such memos were shared with Congress during both Republican and Democratic administrations.
But the concept of extending executive privilege to Justice Department decisions isn't new. During the Reagan years, executive privilege was cited as the reason the department did not tell Congress about some memos in a high-profile environmental case.
Legal experts are split on how such a claim might fare in a court challenge.
"Prosecution is a core executive function and from that starting point, a claim of executive privilege is quite a good one," said John Barrett, an Iran-Contra prosecutor who teaches law at St. John's University.
Burton, who frequently clashed with Attorney General Janet Reno, plans to issue subpoenas for the documents today and has asked Ashcroft to testify at a committee hearing this month.
But Justice officials have resisted Burton's requests, and officials said yesterday that White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales has recommended that Bush claim executive privilege if the memos are subpoenaed or if Ashcroft is questioned about them.
does that tell you something?
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a former Clinton White House official and a former federal drug enforcement agent.
It IS a cover up.
The Bushes and the clintons have each other by the balls and can bring each other down, Read Terry Reed's book "Compromised"and you will understand.
Do you really want to tie the Klamath situation to this executive privilege issue? Lose one, lose both?
Are you trying to make it look like the Bush-bashers and the Klamath farmers are one and the same?
Maybe you should check with some of the farmers before you try to drag them into your little tiff.
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