Senate subpoenas WHouse documents in spying probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate chairman heading an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying program subpoenaed documents on Wednesday from the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney's office, the National Security Council and Justice Department.

Setting up a possible courtroom showdown, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy gave the administration until July 18 to turn over specified materials that the White House last week declared off limits and highly classified.

In letters accompanying the subpoenas, Leahy wrote: "Over the past 18 months, this committee has made no fewer than nine formal requests to the Department of Justice and to the White House, seeking information and documents about the authorization of and legal justification for this program."

"There is no legitimate argument for withholding the requested materials," added Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. "The administration cannot thwart the Congress's conduct of its constitutional duties with sweeping assertions of secrecy and privilege."

The White House condemned the action.

"It's unfortunate that congressional Democrats have decided to choose confrontation," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "This is a highly classified program that was specifically designed to protect civil liberties."

"The appropriate members of Congress have repeatedly been briefed on its substance, lawfulness, and effectiveness in protecting American lives by helping foil terrorist attacks," Perino said.

Leahy's panel, on a bipartisan vote of 13-3, authorized the subpoenas last week in another attempt to determine the administration's legal justification for warrantless surveillance begun shortly after the September 11 attacks.

Bush could challenge the subpoenas, citing a right of executive privilege his predecessors have invoked with mixed success to keep certain materials private and prevent aides from testifying.

Critics charge Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, conducted by the National Security Agency, violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires warrants. Bush said he could act without warrants under wartime powers.

In January, the administration abandoned the program and agreed to get approval of the FISA court for its electronic surveillance.

Bush and Democrats are at odds over revisions he wants in the FISA law, and some lawmakers question if the administration has actually ceased warrantless surveillance.

Interest in the justification of the program, which the administration said targeted people in the United States with suspected terrorists ties, increased last month after former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified before the Judiciary Committee.

Comey told the panel about a March 2004 hospital-room meeting where then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales tried to pressure a critically ill John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, to set aside Justice Department concerns and sign a presidential order reauthorizing the program.

With top Justice Department officials threatening to resign, Bush quietly quelled the uprising by directing the department to take steps to bring the program in line with the law, Comey said.

Congressional committees recently subpoenaed two of Bush's former aides in a separate investigation into whether partisan politics played a role in the firing last year of nine of the 93 U.S. attorneys,

Last week, a House committee set off another political firestorm when it reported that Cheney has refused to comply with an executive order that created government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria)