White House: Can’t We All Get Along?OK, so the White House and Congress are locked in a pitched battle over the testimony of key aides. But that doesn’t mean Democrats have to be mean about it.
Some highlights from White House counsel Fred Fielding’s letter to the House and Senate judiciary committees this morning:
Let me begin by conveying a note of concern over your letter’s tone and apparent direction in dealing with a situation of this gravity. We are troubled to read the letter ‘s charge that the President’s “assertion of Executive Privilege belies any good faith attempt to determine where privilege truly does and does not apply.” Although we each speak on behalf of different branches of government, and perhaps for that reason cannot help having different perspectives on the matter, it is hoped you will agree, upon further reflection, that it is incorrect to say that the President’s assertion of Executive Privilege was performed without “good faith.”…One final observation underscores the preordained futility of any White House compliance with this demand. When your letter states that your Committees ”will take the necessary steps to rule on [the President ‘s] privilege claims and appropriately enforce our subpoenas” and that the Committees will enforce their subpoenas “[wjhether or not [they] have the benefit of the information” (emphasis added), only one conclusion is evident: the Committees have already prejudged the question, regardless of the production of any privilege log. In such circumstances, we will not be undertaking such a project, even as a further accommodation.”
Fielding gravely concludes: “And I likewise convey the President’s request that further interbranch relations in this matter be distinguished by respect for the constitutional principles of both institutions and marked by a presumption of goodwill on all sides.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) replies:
“We are extremely disappointed with the White House letter. While we remain willing to negotiate with the White House, they adhere to their unacceptable all-or-nothing position, and now will not even seek to properly justify their privilege claims. Contrary to what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the Courts that will decide whether an invocation of Executive Privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is more to the point (and, well, a little mean):
“I have to wonder if the White House’s refusal to provide a detailed basis for this executive privilege claim has more to do with its inability to craft an effective one.”