Bush Not Likely to Testify in 9/11 Probe
ABC News | The Associated Press
Tuesady, 26 November, 2002
President Bush Not Likely to Testify Before Independent
Commission Investigating 9/11 Attacks.
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 26 -- President Bush does not envision
testifying before an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks,
even if there is some precedent for the chief executive offering high-profile
testimony, the White House said Wednesday.
"I can just tell you everything I have heard from the
Hill and from also in the White House, there's nothing that I've heard that
(suggests) anybody is moving in that direction," presidential spokesman
Ari Fleischer said.
Bush plans to sign a bill Wednesday to create a panel to study
the Sept. 11 attacks and why the government failed to prevent them.
In his daily briefing, Fleischer said presidential testimony
is not "within the precedence of any congressional commission" and
challenged reporters to "give me a precedent where you think commissions
have ... questioned the president."
Answering Fleischer's challenge, a reporter mentioned the Tower
Commission, which investigated the Iran-Contra affair under President Reagan.
The president testified in 1987 to the panel he had appointed to probe the
actions of the National Security Council staff following disclosure that profits
from secret arms sales to Iran were diverted to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Fleischer also was reminded that President Ford testified before
a House subcommittee Oct. 17, 1974, to explain his pardon of former President
Richard Nixon. Ford had said he did not want to set any precedent, but thought
the nation's interest outweighed presidential prerogatives during the Watergate
scandal.
The bill being signed by Bush, in most cases, requires six
of 10 panel members to approve subpoenas, meaning at least one GOP panelist
would have to side with Democrats to compel Bush's testimony. The White House
withheld its support of the bill until it could ensure subpoena powers were
limited.
"I don't think the commission itself knows quite yet exactly
who they're going to talk to, what they're going to do," Fleischer said.
"Typically, for these commissions, they get formed, they get up to speed,
they take a couple of months to hire staff, et cetera, and then they try to
figure out exactly what road map they're going to follow."
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