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| Politics
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| Bush set for showdown over aides |
| Key White House aides could be made to testify under oath about the firing of federal prosecutors
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 22-March-2007
10:25:20 AM |
| The move could set up a constitutional showdown with the White House, which has vowed to resist such moves.
President George W Bush says he will only allow the aides to speak privately, and not under oath.
Congress wants to question Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, as well as Mr Bush's former lawyer.
Critics say last year's sacking of the eight attorneys was politically motivated.
Mr Bush's Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, has faced calls to resign over the dismissals.
The president has thus far stood by Mr Gonzales, a long-time confidant from their days in Texas before they came to Washington together.
Private offer
Mr Gonzales says the prosecutors were dismissed because their performances were below standard.
Congressional investigations have found that Mr Bush's former counsel, Harriet Miers, proposed firing all 93 US attorneys nationwide in 2005.
One of the sacked attorneys was replaced by a former aide to Mr Rove.
Mr Bush said on Tuesday that Congress should accept his offer to let his aides testify privately, without oath or transcript.
He vowed to resist any order, or subpoena, for them to testify in public, saying presidential aides would be compromised if they feared having to justify themselves publicly.
"We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honourable public servants," Mr Bush said.
On Wednesday White House counsel Dan Bartlett told National Public Radio that any subpoena would be refused by the administration.
He added such a move would lead the White House to withdraw its offer of private testimony.
The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says the House demand for testimony under oath sets up a constitutional battle between the president and Congress which could end up in the Supreme Court.
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