Senator Patrick Leahy has ruled that President Bush wasn’t involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys last winter. That means his aides can’t claim executive privilege as a reason for their refusal to testify about the matter to a Senate committee.
That’s the official ruling from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. Yesterday Leahy exonerated President Bush from involvement in part to continue his push to get chief of state John Bolten and adviser Karl Rove to testify.
Leahy says there’s strong evidence — and no one’s arguing against it — that President Bush was not involved in the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
Because of that, Leahy says Bush’s aides can’t use the doctrine of executive privilege — which is designed to protect the president — in refusing to testify about the matter.