Bush instructs Rove not to testify

President Bush directed White House political adviser Karl Rove not to testify today before Congress about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding, in a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the president is asserting executive privilege to block testimony by Rove and White House political aide J. Scott Jennings.

Rove was also advised that he doesn't have to appear before the Judiciary Committee, which had subpoenaed both aides to answer questions today about their role in the dismissals.

"Mr. Rove, as an immediate presidential adviser, is immune from compelled congressional testimony about matters that arose during his tenure and that relate to his official duties," Fielding wrote.

House and Senate panels are investigating whether the White House orchestrated the firings for improper political purposes, such as to punish U.S. attorneys who didn't aggressively pursue vote-fraud allegations. One of the nine fired prosecutors was replaced by a former Rove aide.

Fielding's letter indicated that Jennings would appear before the committee, though he has been instructed not to answer questions covered by Bush's privilege assertion.

"Mr. Rove and Mr. Jennings have been informed of the president's decision to assert executive privilege and have been directed not to produce any documents or to provide any testimony covered by the assertion," Fielding wrote.

Last month, Bush asserted executive privilege in ordering White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers to refuse to cooperate with lawmakers' investigation of the firings. The House Judiciary Committee on July 25 voted to cite Bolten and Miers for criminal contempt of Congress.

If the full House of Representatives also votes to cite Miers and Bolten for contempt, a case would be referred to a U.S. attorney for prosecution. White House spokesman Tony Snow has said the president will instruct the U.S. attorney in Washington not to bring such a case.