Bush reportedly blocks Rove testimony

WASHINGTON - Citing executive privilege, President Bush has barred his close adviser Karl Rove from testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a probe over fired federal prosecutors, CNN reported Wednesday.

The committee had subpoenaed Rove to testify at a hearing Thursday morning in its investigation of the firing last year of nine federal prosecutors, which critics said was prompted by partisan politics.

Also subpoenaed was White House political aide J. Scott Jennings.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding has consistently said that top presidential aides — present and past — are immune from subpoenas and has declared the documents sought off-limits under executive privilege.

The House Judiciary Committee already has approved a contempt citation against two other Bush confidants, chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. The full House is expected to vote on the citation in the fall, but the Justice Department has said it won’t prosecute the two.

Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month and sought to answer some lawmakers’ questions and remain mum on others, citing Bush’s claim of privilege.

Gonzales at center of standoff
The controversy over the firings has grown into a larger dispute between Congress and the White House over the credibility of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Lawmakers have questioned whether Gonzales testified truthfully over the government’s secret surveillance program.

Bush met with congressional leaders Wednesday to press for action on a proposal to expand the surveillance program and get it done before Congress goes on recess at week’s end.

The administration is pushing to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to allow surveillance without a warrant of terror suspects who are overseas. The proposal, offered late last week by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, is designed to fix what the White House says is a glaring problem: the missing of significant foreign intelligence that could protect the country against terrorist attacks.

“To the extent that more flexibility is needed, as Director McConnell has indicated, we are prepared to make those accommodations under the law,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after congressional leaders met with Bush at the White House Wednesday. “We hope to do that this week.”

'I don't promise any legislation'
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he, too, thought the matter would be worked out. But he would not predict timing, as Pelosi did.

“In the Senate, I don’t promise any legislation,” Reid said. He said the hang-up is “what the involvement of the attorney general will be.”

Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate have openly questioned the truthfulness of Gonzales, whom they also accuse of helping Bush exploit executive power at the expense of civil liberties and possibly beyond the law on an array of matters.

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

WP: How lowly lawmaker became a GOP headache Abortion could roil Senate health care debate   Obama to meet mourning families in Ft. Hood Advice for Obama: Knock heads on health care High court looks at life in prison for juveniles Israeli prime minister calls for peace talks Palin says she’s back on Twitter GOP says Dems put agenda ahead of country House Roll Call: Health care 2010 elections: Democratic fears, GOP hopes   Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: