President Bush Asserts Exec. Privilege in Plame Leak InvestigationWe’ve seen a lot of assertions of executive privilege in the last few months— from Karl Rove to Stephen Johnson — but now Attorney General Michael Mukasey has claimed executive privilege on behalf of President Bush.
Mukasey’s letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) last night, pre-empted a vote this morning on contempt of Congress stemming from the White House’s refusal to release FBI documents relating to the Valerie Plame leak scandal. The documents were subpoenaed by Committee on June 16.
From the Mukasey’s letter to Bush:
I am greatly concerned about the chilling effect that compliance with the Committee’s subpoena would have on future White House deliberations and White House cooperation with future Justice Department investigations.
Hmmm. Where have we heard that before?