WH offers aides to explain firings

WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush has OK'd appearances by adviser Karl Rove and other White House figures before Congress on the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

However, Rove, Harriet Miers, deputy White House counsel William Kelley and White House aide Scott Jennings would not be made to testify under oath, The Hill reported Tuesday.

Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have said they want to subpoena administration officials in their investigation into the firing of the U.S. attorneys. Both House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said they were disappointed in the White House offer.

White House counsel Fred Fielding said Rove, Miers, Kelley and Jennings could be queried only about "communications between the White House and persons outside the White House concerning the request for resignations of the U.S. attorneys in question; and communication between the White House and Members of Congress concerning those requests," The Hill said.

He also said the interviews would be conducted in private and no transcript or subsequent testimony would be offered.