President Bush Asserts Executive Privilege in CIA Leak Case

Separation of Powers

President Bush Asserts Executive Privilege in CIA Leak Case

Posted Jul 16, 2008, 11:22 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

President Bush has invoked executive privilege to withhold information subpoenaed by a House panel investigating the leak of a CIA agent’s identity.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey had sought the privilege claim, the Associated Press reports. He asserted in a letter to the president that compliance with the subpoena would have a chilling effect on White House cooperation with future Justice Department investigations.

Mukasey had sought to protect a Justice Department interview with Vice President Dick Cheney that had been sought by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee wants to know about Cheney’s role in the revelation of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The committee chairman, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, delayed a vote on a contempt citation for Mukasey as a courtesy to lawmakers who weren’t present, the story says.

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