Ex-Aide Stays Tight Lipped on Attorneys

Former White House political adviser Sara Taylor never discussed the ouster of nine US attorneys with President Bush, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee today. The subpoenaed Taylor said little else about the Justice Department scandal, citing executive privilege, but waffled occasionally between discretion and disclosure—for instance apologizing for having called one fired attorney "lazy" in an email.

Democratic senators seized the opportunity to scold the president; Chairman Patrick Leahy called Taylor's silence symptomatic of a White House that "feels that it does not have to explain itself to anyone," and several opined that Bush's use of executive privilege to shield deliberations at Justice was undermined by Taylor's testimony that he wasn't involved. (More White House stories.)