Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On White House Letter Regarding Executive Privilege Claim
July 9, 2007

WASHINGTON (Monday, July 9) – The White House sent a letter today to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reiterating its assertion of executive privilege in response to congressional subpoenas, but declining to provide a complete basis for its assertion.  Below is Chairman Leahy’s comment on the letter.    

“This is more stonewalling from a White House that believes it can unilaterally control the other co-equal branches of government. What is the White House trying to hide by refusing to turn over evidence it was willing to provide months ago as long as that information was shared in secret with no opportunity for Congress to pursue the matter further?

“The White House’s refusal to properly justify its basis for this executive privilege claim raises questions about the validity of its assertion. There is sworn testimony from the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General and other senior Justice Department officials that the President was not involved in the decision-making that led to the unprecedented firings of several well-performing prosecutors, which is the subject of our congressional inquiries. 

“It is unfortunate that the White House is trying to interfere with Ms. Taylor’s testimony before the Senate and with Congress’s responsibility to get to the truth behind the unprecedented firings of several U.S. Attorneys.   There is clear evidence that Ms. Taylor was one of several White House officials who played a key role in these firings and the Administration’s response to cover up the reasons behind them when questions first arose.  There is also clear evidence that Ms. Taylor was part of more than 66,000 RNC e-mails that have been kept hidden from the public as part of a White House-wide effort to avoid oversight by ignoring the laws meant to ensure a public record of official government business.

“The White House continues to try to have it both ways – to block Congress from talking with witnesses and accessing documents and other evidence while saying nothing improper occurred.  I hope the White House stops this stonewalling and accepts my offer to negotiate a workable solution to the Committee’s oversight requests, as so many previous White Houses have done throughout history.”

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