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Bush's ex-aide refuses to answer questions about attorney firings |
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08:21, July 12, 2007 |
Sara Taylor, a former political advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush, refused on Wednesday to answer questions about the firings of several federal prosecutors last year, two months after she left the White House.
Taylor appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee which was investigating the firings of eight federal attorneys last year, and she said she would follow directions from Bush and answer only limited questions.
"While I may be unable to answer certain questions today, I will answer those questions if the courts rule that this committee 's need for the information outweighs the president's assertion of executive privilege," said Taylor.
Her testimony revealed little, if any, how deep the White House was involved in the dismissals last year, which lawmakers said might be politically-motivated instead of what the Justice Department has claimed to be performance-related.
Democrats said Taylor was now a private citizen compelled by subpoena to testify, and would be held in contempt of Congress if she refused. They said it was Taylor who would decide whether to cooperate in the investigation.
"It is apparent that this White House is contemptuous of the Congress and feels that it does not have to explain itself to anybody," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.
"I urge Ms. Taylor not to follow that contemptuous position and not to follow the White House down this path," he said.
The Bush administration invoked executive privilege early this week to refuse requests by Congress that two former White House aides testify in the legislature's probe of the firings of several federal prosecutors last year.
"The president feels compelled to assert executive privilege with respect to the testimony sought from Sara M. Taylor and ( former White House counsel) Harriet E. Miers," White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of Senate and House judiciary committees, Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative John Conyers.
On June 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Taylor and the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Miers, asking for their testimonies in their investigations into the firings of eight U.S. federal prosecutors last year.
While administration officials said the attorneys were ousted over concern about their performance, lawmakers suspected that they were targeted because they had not carried out the political agenda of the Republican Party, particularly before the mid-term elections last November.
The House committee has scheduled Miers' testimony for Thursday.
Source: Xinhua
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