By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
President Bush’s lawyers told the Republican National Committee on Tuesday not to turn over to Congress any e-mails related to the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys before showing them to the White House.
Democrats and Republican critics of the administration said the move suggests that the White House is seeking to develop a strategy to block the release of the non-government e-mails to congressional investigators by arguing that they’re covered by executive privilege and not subject to review.
Scott M. Stanzel, deputy White House press secretary, called the action “reasonable” and said that any review of the e-mails would “be conducted in a timely fashion, to balance the committee’s need for the information with the extreme over breadth of their requests.” Party officials declined comment, but a GOP aide familiar with the negotiations said the RNC would comply with the White House request.