WASHINGTON -- Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House asserted executive privilege Friday in denying a request to turn over thousands of pages of documents that Congress seeks as part of an investigation involving California's air-quality standards.
"I don't think we've had a situation like this since Richard Nixon was president," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Waxman canceled a contempt vote that had been scheduled for Friday morning against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson and White House official Susan Dudley after the White House informed him of its last-minute decision. The two have refused to turn over subpoenaed documents to Waxman's panel.
President Bush sought advice from Attorney General Michael Mukasey before making his decision.
"The Office of Legal Counsel is satisfied that the subpoenaed documents fall within the scope of executive privilege," Mukasey said in a letter to Bush, which was released by Republicans on the committee.
Waxman said that Johnson and Dudley had wanted to approve a waiver that California officials sought to strengthen the state's air-quality standards but that Bush had overruled them.
"There are thousands of internal White House documents that would show whether the president and his staff acted lawfully," Waxman said. "But the president has said they must be kept from Congress and the public."
Waxman said the committee would investigate the matter further before deciding how to proceed. "We will not abandon this matter," he said.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, a member of the committee, said Bush had demonstrated a contempt of Congress and abused his power. Kucinich reiterated his call to impeach the president, saying it was the only way that Congress could hold the administration accountable.
"Can the government be clean if the air is not?" Kucinich asked.
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