White House asserts executive privilege

WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- The Bush administration advised House and Senate committees Thursday that it would not respond to requests for documents on the U.S. attorney firings.

Fred Fielding, White House counsel, told Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in a letter that President Bush has decided the documents are covered by executive privilege, The Washington Post reported.

"I write at the direction of the president to advise and inform you that the president has decided to assert executive privilege and therefore the White House will not be making any production in response to these subpoenas for documents," Fielding wrote.

Tony Snow, Bush's spokesman, told reporters that the White House had withdrawn an offer to allow former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor, former deputy assistant to the president, to testify. He said the offer might be back on the table if the subpoenas are withdrawn.

"Congress here are engaged in an attempt -- apparently since they have been unsuccessful in passing key legislation -- to try to do what they can to make life difficult for the White House," he said. "It also may explain why this is the least popular Congress in decades."