The White House has challenged Congress to the constitutional equivalent of a duel, minus the glove slap to the face. As reported in the Associated Press this morning, the White House has refused to comply with congressional subpoenas for documents relating to the firings of federal prosecutors, invoking, you guessed it, executive privilege.
The administration has also refused to allow former political director Sara Taylor and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers to testify before Congress. Fred Fielding, the current White House counsel, wrote in a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary Committee that the administration wished to avoid this “unfortunate path.” “We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege,” Fielding said: “Instead, we are at this conclusion.”
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