Those are pretty damning words. But if you chose to find out about the story from CNN, you wouldn't even know anyone was even mildly peeved over Bush's decision. The CNN story doesn't even mention that anyone on Capitol Hill is upset. Here's the full text of the CNN story... Bush rebuffs Congress on Clinton campaign documents

December 14, 2001 Posted: 11:12 AM EST (1612 GMT)

By Kelly Wallace

CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush has asserted "executive privilege" and is refusing to release confidential Justice Department documents related to campaign fundraising practices during the Clinton administration to a congressional oversight committee.

"It is my decision that you should not release these documents or otherwise make them available to the committee," Bush said in a memorandum to Attorney General John Ashcroft that was released by the White House on Thursday.

"Because I believe that congressional access to these documents would be contrary to the national interest, I have decided to assert executive privilege with respect to the documents and to instruct you not to release them or otherwise make them available to the committee," the president said.

The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, had subpoenaed Justice Department records, including memos to and from then-Attorney General Janet Reno on whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate alleged campaign fundraising abuses by the Clinton administration and whether criminal prosecutions should be brought against any individuals.

Bush said disclosure of such documents "threatens to politicize the criminal justice process" and "would inhibit the candor necessary" for the "deliberative processes" that guide Justice Department prosecutorial decisions.

Further, he said releasing such materials would be a violation of the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution.

"Congressional pressure on executive branch prosecutorial decision making is inconsistent with separation of powers and threatens individual liberty," said Bush.

The president asked Ashcroft to notify the committee of his decision and to continue working "informally" with the committee to provide information "without violating the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers."

http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/12/14/bush.exe cutive.privilege/index.html

The Associated Press, at least let Americans know that tempers flared on Capitol Hill over this incident. However, they leave out the best part of the story. If media content is truly driven by rating, reporting that Rep. Burton called the President "dictatorial" and reminder of how quick the President's father's popularity evaporated would seem to be the way to generate a attention and ratings. But they didn't report those statements. They instead referred to milder quotes from the enraged Congressman. Here's the text of the AP story.

Thursday December 13 12:04 PM ET

Bush Invokes Executive Privilege

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) invoked executive privilege for the first time Thursday to keep Congress from seeing documents of prosecutors' decision-making in cases ranging from a decades-old Boston murder to the Clinton-era fund-raising probe.

``I believe congressional access to these documents would be contrary to the national interest,'' Bush wrote in a memo ordering Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) to withhold the documents from a House investigative committee that subpoenaed them.

The decision institutes a dramatic change in the way the administration intends to deal with Congress after years in which the Justice Department (news - web sites), sometimes reluctantly, shared sensitive investigative documents with lawmakers.

Republicans and Democrats alike excoriated the decision, suggesting Bush was creating a ``monarchy'' or ``imperial'' presidency to keep Congress for overseeing the executive branch and guarding against corruption.

The Republican House committee chairman who sought the documents raised the possibility of taking Bush to court for contempt of Congress.

``Everyone is in agreement you guys are making a big mistake,'' Rep. Dan Burton (news - bio - voting record), R-Ind., told Justice lawyers at a hearing after the announcement. ``We might be able to go to the (House) floor and take this thing to court.''

The full House, controlled by Republicans, would have to vote to find Bush in contempt to start such a court battle.

In his memo to Ashcroft, the president explained his decision.

``Disclosure to Congress of confidential advice to the attorney general regarding the appointment of a special counsel and confidential recommendations to Department of Justice (news - web sites) officials regarding whether to bring criminal charges would inhibit the candor necessary to the effectiveness of the deliberative process by which the department makes prosecutorial decisions,'' Bush wrote.

He added, ``It is my decision that you should not release these documents or otherwise make them available to the committee. ... I have decided to assert executive privilege.''

Burton decried the decision. ``This is not a monarchy,'' he said. ``The legislative branch has oversight responsibility to make sure there is no corruption in the executive branch.''

Rep. Henry Waxman (news - bio - voting record), the top Democrat on the committee, who frequently sparred with Burton during Clinton era investigations, agreed with his sometimes nemesis.

``An imperial presidency or an imperial justice department conflicts with the democratic principles of our nation,'' Waxman said.

The decision immediately affects a subpoena from Burton's House Government Reform Committee (news - web sites) for documents related to the FBI (news - web sites)'s handling of mob informants in Boston dating to the 1960s.

More importantly, it sets a new policy in the works for months in which the administration will resist lawmakers' requests to view prosecutorial decision-making documents that have been routinely turned over to Congress in years past.

Executive privilege is a doctrine recognized by the courts that ensures presidents can get candid advice in private without fear of its becoming public.

The privilege, however, is best known for the unsuccessful attempts by former Presidents Nixon and Clinton to keep evidence secret during impeachment investigations.

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales recommended Bush invoke the privilege earlier this fall.

While invoking the privilege, Bush instructed Ashcroft to have the Justice Department ``remain willing to work informally with the committee to provide such information as it can, consistent with these instructions and without violating the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.''

Burton's committee for months has been seeking Justice Department memos about prosecutors' decisions in cases involving the handling of mob informants in Boston, Democratic fund raising, a former Clinton White House official and a former federal drug enforcement agent.

The committee subpoenaed Ashcroft, demanding those documents in the fall and scheduled a hearing Thursday to examine the Boston case.

That case stems from revelations that Joseph Salvati of Boston spent 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit even though the FBI had evidence of his innocence. Salvati was freed in January after a judge concluded that FBI agents hid testimony that would have cleared Salvati because they wanted to protect an informant.

Several such memos were shared with Congress during both Republican and Democratic administrations. Most recently, in the 1990s, such documents were turned over to the Whitewater, fund-raising, pardons and impeachment investigations by lawmakers.

But the concept of extending executive privilege to Justice Department decisions isn't new. During the Reagan years, the privilege was cited as the reason the department did not tell Congress about some memos in a high-profile environmental case.

And Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno (news - web sites), advised Clinton in 1999 that he could invoke the privilege to keep from disclosing documents detailing department views on 16 pardon cases.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011213/pl/bush_p rivilege_9.html

The bias of the news media is becoming intolerably blatant. The only good part about this development is that because the bias is this blatant, it's easy to display."