Mukasey the Obstructionist
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Michael Mukasey has President Bush's back.
Mukasey succeeded toady Alberto Gonzales as attorney general last fall. But the notion that he would restore independence to that post took a big hit yesterday when he refused to turn over to a House committee key documents related to the CIA leak investigation.
Mukasey may have a better reputation than Gonzales, but it turns out he is just as willing to use his power to protect the White House from embarrassing revelations.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed Mukasey to turn over, among other documents, a report on Vice President Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
In a move that was mutually self-serving, Bush yesterday -- on Mukasey's urging -- made what may be his most audacious assertion yet of executive privilege.
Congress's legitimate oversight interests aside, common sense suggests Cheney waived executive privilege when he voluntarily agreed to speak to FBI agents. But Mukasey countered that with a novel argument: "I am concerned about the subpoena's impact on White House cooperation with future Justice Department criminal investigations," he wrote in his Tuesday letter to Bush, asking to be ordered not to comply with the subpoena
(Continued here.)
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Michael Mukasey has President Bush's back.
Mukasey succeeded toady Alberto Gonzales as attorney general last fall. But the notion that he would restore independence to that post took a big hit yesterday when he refused to turn over to a House committee key documents related to the CIA leak investigation.
Mukasey may have a better reputation than Gonzales, but it turns out he is just as willing to use his power to protect the White House from embarrassing revelations.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed Mukasey to turn over, among other documents, a report on Vice President Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
In a move that was mutually self-serving, Bush yesterday -- on Mukasey's urging -- made what may be his most audacious assertion yet of executive privilege.
Congress's legitimate oversight interests aside, common sense suggests Cheney waived executive privilege when he voluntarily agreed to speak to FBI agents. But Mukasey countered that with a novel argument: "I am concerned about the subpoena's impact on White House cooperation with future Justice Department criminal investigations," he wrote in his Tuesday letter to Bush, asking to be ordered not to comply with the subpoena
(Continued here.)
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