Dan Burton: “last week the President reportedly asserted executive privilege over conversations the President had with his longtime…”

“last week the President reportedly asserted executive privilege over conversations the President had with his longtime aid Bruce Lindsey as well as conversation the First Lady had with White House aide Sidney Blumenthal. This is the first time since President Richard Nixon, during Watergate, that a President has asserted executive privilege in a criminal proceeding. This stunning misuse of executive privilege is one of the White House's many delay tactics designed to drag out investigations. As the New York Times editorialized this morning, Mr. Clinton's attempt to block grand jury testimony by two important White House aides, Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal, is an alarming attempt to extend presidential power. Even former Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos recognizes the absurdity of this claim of executive privilege when on This Week with David Brinkley he said, ``They cannot win this fight on executive privilege. It has been tried before in the Whitewater case and eventually they turned over the documents.''”