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July 24, 2008 8:55:15 AM CDT

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Bush Directs Aides to Defy Subpoenas

Posted Jul 10, 07 4:12 AM CDT in Politics,  US 

(Newser) – In an aggressive use of executive privilege, President Bush instructed two of his former aides yesterday to disregard congressional subpoenas demanding they testify about the attorney firings scandal. In a letter to Congress, Bush's counsel rebuffed Democratic senators for encroaching on internal White House affairs, bringing the two branches closer to an possible Supreme Court showdown.

Bush’s attempt to keep former White House counsel Harriet Miers and political director Sara Taylor from testifying "goes way beyond the proper scope of executive privilege," one political scientist tells the Washington Post. If they can’t come to an agreement, Congress will likely slap Bush with contempt, leaving the matter up to the federal courts.

Source Washington Post

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, accompanied by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., discusses the committee's issuance of subpoenas for the legal basis of the Bush administration's...   (Associated Press)
President Bush gestures while delivering remarks at the White House Conference on the Americas, Monday, July 9, 2007, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)   (Associated Press)
US President George W. Bush listens to an introduction prior...   (Getty Images (by Event))
Video image provided by C-SPAN, taken June 24, 2005, shows former White House political director Sara Taylor in Washington, during a speech on the Republican agenda before the College Republican National...   (Associated Press)
es Dharapak/File)   (Associated Press)
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Tags

George W. Bush  • US Supreme Court  • Senate  • White House  • House of Representatives  • Patrick Leahy  • Senate Judiciary Committee  • US attorneys scandal  • Harriet Miers  • contempt  • Fred Fielding  • Sara M. Taylor


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