White House beefs up legal staff

WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The White House has hired extra Washington lawyers to help with a growing number of investigations launched since Democrats took over Congress this year.

Nine attorneys have been added to the White House staff in the past few months, as Democrats use the subpoena power and control of committees to grill the administration on a variety of issues.

Democrats say they are performing oversight functions neglected by Republicans when they controlled Congress.

The Bush administration has characterized the probes as "fishing expeditions," but nevertheless saw the need to increases its legal staff to 22.

"We want to make sure we have the right people in place to adequately address issues and requests for information that come our way," spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore told The Washington Times.