sen. leahy: august 20, 2007 is new return date for WH subpoenas

still from the road, but i thought it
worth marking august 20, 2007 on our
collective calendars -- that is the
newly revised date for fred fielding's
compliance with the senate judiciary
committee's four subpoenas (dick cheney's
office, and mr. cheney, himself -- see
right margin! -- plainly included
here), all served in late-june of
2007. we should simply call this
what it is -- an expediency move.

it allows senate staffers, and the senators,
the luxury of some august break-time before
they crank up to enforce the subpoenas, or
alternatively (and less likely), to review
an avalanche of subpoenaed-documents, pro-
duced on the extended return-date, from
the white house (r-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght?).

in any event, here it is:

August 8, 2007

Fred Fielding, Esq.
Counsel to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. Fielding:

As you know, on June 27, 2007 the Senate Judiciary Committee served subpoenas on the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Department of Justice for documents related to legal justifications for and authorization of the National Security Agency's warrantless electronic surveillance program. The return date for those subpoenas was set for July 18,2007. I had a telephone conversation with you and Josh Bolten in which you asked for a brief extension of time to allow for thorough collection and review of responsive documents. At that time you mentioned August 1 as the time you thought you would need.

Despite my patience and flexibility, you have rejected every proposal, produced none of the responsive documents, provided no basis for any claim of privilege and no accompanying log of withheld documents. I had been requesting this information for an extended time before issuing the subpoenas.

I am setting as the new return date for these four subpoenas August 20,2007, at 2:30 p.m. I look forward to compliance with the Judiciary Committee's June 27, 2007 subpoenas to the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Department of Justice by the new return date of August 20, 2007 at 2:30 p.m., in the place and manner indicated in the subpoenas.