Executive privilege invoked for Miers

WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- Ex-White House Counsel Harriet Miers will not appear before Congress to testify about the firing of several U.S. attorneys.

The House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that current White House Counsel Fred Fielding told Miers not to attend Thursday's hearing into the 2006 dismissal of the prosecutors, even though Miers was subpoenaed by the panel, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"I am extremely disappointed in the White House's direction to Ms. Miers that she not even show up to assert the privilege before the committee," said House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. "We understand that the White House has asserted privilege over both her testimony and documents, and we are prepared to consider those claims at tomorrow's hearing."

President George W. Bush's former political director Wednesday refused to help senators investigating the firing of the federal prosecutors.

As with Miers, Bush invoked executive privilege to keep Sara Taylor from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about White House communications. Accompanied by her attorney, Taylor, 32, told the lawmakers, "I may be unable to answer certain questions today."

She then declined to answer questions about what she may have heard about the firings during her White House tenure.