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WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush has asserted executive privilege to prevent Attorney-General Michael Mukasey from having to comply with a House panel subpoena for material on the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
A House committee chairman, meanwhile, held off on a contempt citation of Mr. Mukasey – who had requested the privilege claim – but only as a courtesy to legislators not present.
Among the documents sought by House Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman are FBI interviews of Vice-President Dick Cheney.
They also include notes about the 2003 State of the Union address, during which Mr. Bush made the case for invading Iraq in part by saying Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was pursuing uranium ore to make a nuclear weapon. That information turned out to be wrong.
Mr. Waxman rejected Mr. Mukasey's suggestion that Mr. Cheney's FBI interview on the CIA leak should be protected by the privilege claim – and therefore not be turned over to the panel.
“We'll act in the reasonable and appropriate period of time,” Mr.Waxman said. He made it clear that he thinks Mr. Mukasey has earned a contempt citation and that he will schedule a vote on the matter soon.
“This unfounded assertion of executive privilege does not protect a principle; it protects a person,” Mr. Waxman said. “If the Vice-President did nothing wrong, what is there to hide?”
The assertion of the privilege is not about hiding anything but rather protecting the separation of powers as well as the integrity of future Justice Department investigations of the White House, Mr. Mukasey wrote to Mr. Bush in a letter dated Tuesday. Several of the subpoenaed reports, he wrote, summarize conversations between Mr. Bush and advisers so are direct presidential communications protected by the privilege.
“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 co-operation with future Justice Department investigations,” Mr. Mukasey wrote to Mr. Bush. “I believe it is legally permissible for you to assert executive privilege with respect to the subpoenaed documents, and I respectfully request that you do so.”
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Mr. Bush invoked the privilege on Tuesday.
Mr. Waxman said he would wait to hold a vote on Mr. Mukasey's contempt citation until all members of the panel had a chance to read up on the matter.
The Bush administration has had plenty of warning. Mr. Waxman warned last week that he would cite Mr. Mukasey with contempt unless the Attorney-General complied with the subpoena. The House Judiciary Committee also has subpoenaed some of the same documents from Mr. Mukasey, as well as information on the leak from other current and former administration officials.
State Department official Richard Armitage first revealed Ms. Plame's identity as a CIA agent to columnist Robert Novak, who used former presidential counsellor Karl Rove as a confirming source for a 2003 article. About that time Ms. Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was criticizing Mr. Bush's march to war in Iraq.
Mr. Cheney's then-chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, also was involved in the leak and was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. Last July, Mr. Bush commuted Mr. Libby's 2½-year sentence, sparing him any prison time.
Mr. Libby told the FBI in 2003 that it was possible that Mr. Cheney ordered him to reveal Ms. Plame's identity to reporters.
