White House Wants More Time on Subpoenas

[EV_Ares]

By DEB RIECHMANN - Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The White House on Friday asked a Senate panel for more time to produce subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush's secretive eavesdropping program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy had set Monday as the deadline for administration officials already subpoenaed to provide documents and testimony about the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program.

In a letter to Leahy, White House counsel Fred Fielding argued that the subpoenas called for the production of "extraordinarily sensitive national security information," and he said much of the information - if not all - could be subject to a claim of executive privilege.

Fielding asked Leahy to suspend the deadline until after Labor Day.

On June 27, the committee subpoenaed the Justice Department, National Security Council and the offices of the president and vice president for documents relating to the National Security Agency's legal justification for the wiretapping program. Since then, the issue has been the subject of several letters exchanged between Capitol Hill and the White House.

((((entire article @ link))))

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WHITE_HOUSE_SUBPOENAS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[goclark]

1. Need more time to clear out everything

They are getting nearer to the Big Mistake!

[zanne]

3. Looks like they'll need....

Looks like they'll need the same trucks that pulled up next to the Enron building when they were so busy shredding.

[tanyev]

2. We're going to need until at least Jan 21, 2009 to produce that information.

[EV_Ares]

5. I think we should be hard about it and at least only give them 1/2 the

time extension, if any. They will end up not producing anything anyway and what do you bet they will be given all the time they ask for by the Dems. However, Leahy has been the best at fighting them.

[hisownpetard]

6. That's exactly it! It's as obvious as the nose on Pinocchio's face... n/t

[Subdivisions]

4. Takes a long time to paste back together shredded documents. n/t