Conyers demands answers on Libby commutation

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) urged President Bush Sunday to waive executive privilege and let his lawyers testify in Congress on the commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence.

“We’re asking him to waive executive privilege and allow his pardon lawyers or other experts, whom it appears he did not consult, explain this in a little more detail,” Conyers said.

{mosads}The lawmaker has scheduled a committee hearing for Wednesday to look into presidential powers with regard to pardons and commuting sentences.

With regard to Libby, Conyers said on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that “the suspicion was that if Mr. Libby went to prison, he might further implicate other people in the White House.                    

“This is why we’ve written the president, inviting him to do what President Clinton did, and namely to bring forward any of his pardon lawyers or anyone that can put a clear light on this and put this kind of feeling, that is fairly general, to rest,” he added.

Bush can deny the request under the constitutional authority of executive privilege, which allows a president to withhold information from Congress and the courts if providing it will obstruct the government’s administrative functions. Bush has used that same authority to withhold documents from Congress in its ongoing investigation of the U.S. attorney firings.    

The White House is expected to deny Conyers’ latest request for documents Monday.