On the recordJune 28, 2012
The last leg of today's weak reed of contempt is the claim that the President asserted executive privilege too late. Why not from the beginning? The President, like every President before him, did not assert the privilege until negotiations broke down. But the committee proceeded without even examining the basis for the privilege, as prior Chairs of our committee have done. A coverup is the most irresponsible allegation of this debate because no evidence of a coverup has been submitted. This subpoena is so partisan and political that I expect any court to do just what our committee should have done--compel the parties to sit down and negotiate.
