House Officials

WASHINGTON -- White House officials and top-level appointees throughout the executive branch are struggling to cope with the most intensive oversight of an administration in a decade. At least a half-dozen investigations have been launched or extended since Democrats took over Congress this year, including high-profile reviews of the firings of U.S. attorneys and the activities of political adviser Karl Rove's office. Administration figures such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been subpoenaed, although Bush aides say Rice will not testify as scheduled next month.

WASHINGTON -- At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the CIA from 2003 to 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two al-Qaida operatives, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials. The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.

Washington -- Congress called a timeout yesterday in its confrontation with the Bush administration after a Senate committee voted to authorize subpoenas to compel White House officials, including White House political adviser Karl Rove, to testify about why eight U.S. attorneys were fired last year. Democrats said the voice vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee, after a similar move by a House subcommittee a day earlier, would strengthen their hand as they seek more information from the White House about the dismissals, which critics say were politically motivated.

WASHINGTON -- Senior White House officials were informed that China might have stolen U.S. nuclear secrets nearly a year earlier than the Clinton administration originally disclosed, according to current and former U.S. officials.White House officials were told about China's apparent theft of U.S. nuclear weapons technology in July 1995, soon after it was detected by the Energy Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, several officials said.Until now, the administration has left the impression that White House officials first learned about the matter in April 1996, when Samuel R. Berger, then President Clinton's deputy national security adviser, was briefed on the case by Energy Department officials.

WASHINGTON -- Diplomatic efforts had attained a new sense of urgency yesterday. The air war over Yugoslavia had been pounding military targets with increasing success. And within hours, President Clinton was to fly to Brussels, Belgium, for high-stakes talks with NATO leaders.But first, there was other business to attend to: condolences for the victims of the Midwestern tornadoes and the rollout of broad legislation to protect consumers from banks, securities firms and insurers that are selling private information about their customers to the highest bidder.

WASHINGTON - Reeling from Kathleen Willey's riveting television appearance, the White House launched an organized counterattack yesterday that began at dawn with a salvo from a prominent administration feminist and lasted into the night, when President Clinton's lawyer attacked Willey's credibility on "Larry King Live."Clinton again denied Willey's allegation that he tried to force himself on her sexually. White House officials, meanwhile, released a packet of friendly letters exchanged between Clinton and Willey, in hopes of undercutting her claim of having been offended by the encounter with Clinton.

WASHINGTON -- Leading Republican lawmakers clipped on their microphones in television studios around town yesterday to attack President Clinton for formally invoking executive privilege to block grand jury testimony of senior White House aides in the Monica Lewinsky inquiry.White House officials countered that the Republicans were playing partisan politics.Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott called Clinton's decision "a mistake" that would damage his credibility. "It looks like they are hiding something," the Mississippi Republican said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton was awakened yesterday by a 5: 20 a.m. call from his national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, who reported that a suspected Bosnian war criminal had been apprehended by U.S.-led forces."

WASHINGTON -- With President Clinton's worries shifting from the grand jury room to Capitol Hill, his senior aides are considering proposing that he hire an outside expert to help blunt any congressional inquiry into a report by independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr, White House officials said yesterday.The move is one of several debated inside the White House over the past week, as Clinton's political strategists searched for ways to help him rebuild public confidence, retain support of congressional Democrats and begin to campaign again for his policy goals.

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun incorrectly reported when former White House aide Mary Ellen Glynn learned of the reasons for Monica Lewinsky's transfer from the White House staff to the Pentagon. Glynn did not learn of the details of the transfer until this year.The Sun regrets the error.WASHINGTON -- When she finally emerged from hiding this week, there was little to see of Monica Lewinsky but an elusive figure in a black town car, her long dark hair hanging lushly by her face, her stony expression easing slightly into a smile as her lawyer chatted with her.A week into the presidential crisis, this image was watched with rapt attention by an international audience.

White House officials said Sunday that the presidential environmental adviser Van Jones resigned this weekend of his own accord, a move resulting from a furor over his fiery remarks about Republicans and his signature on a petition questioning whether the U.S. government had any role in planning the Sept. 11 attacks. White House officials never rose to defend the aide, a prominent San Francisco community activist, and took pains over the weekend to distance themselves from Jones' past statements and decisions about his employment status.

WASHINGTON -- At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the CIA from 2003 to 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two al-Qaida operatives, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials. The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department would be likely to block any efforts by congressional Democrats to seek contempt charges against present and former White House officials for refusing to give information to Congress, a White House spokesman said yesterday. Congress and the White House have been moving toward a constitutional confrontation over the administration's invocation of executive privilege to prevent any testimony about its role in last year's dismissal of federal prosecutors.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's decision to defy congressional demands for documents and testimony in the U.S. attorneys case leaves Democrats with a difficult choice of lowering their sights in the investigation or facing a long and uncertain court fight. The White House told congressional leaders yesterday that Bush was asserting executive privilege in response to the request for access to senior officials and documents about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year. The sweeping declaration said that turning over such evidence would harm the president's ability to obtain candid advice from aides.

WASHINGTON -- Two former senior White House officials were subpoenaed yesterday by congressional committees investigating the firing last year of eight U.S. attorneys. The subpoenas of former counsel Harriet E. Miers and political affairs director Sara M. Taylor set the stage for a new confrontation between Congress and the White House. The White House has refused to provide unfettered access to testimony and documents that lawmakers have sought as part of the three-month probe, even as Justice Department documents and testimony have shown that the White House was deeply involved in the firings.

WASHINGTON -- White House officials and top-level appointees throughout the executive branch are struggling to cope with the most intensive oversight of an administration in a decade. At least a half-dozen investigations have been launched or extended since Democrats took over Congress this year, including high-profile reviews of the firings of U.S. attorneys and the activities of political adviser Karl Rove's office. Administration figures such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been subpoenaed, although Bush aides say Rice will not testify as scheduled next month.

Washington -- Congress called a timeout yesterday in its confrontation with the Bush administration after a Senate committee voted to authorize subpoenas to compel White House officials, including White House political adviser Karl Rove, to testify about why eight U.S. attorneys were fired last year. Democrats said the voice vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee, after a similar move by a House subcommittee a day earlier, would strengthen their hand as they seek more information from the White House about the dismissals, which critics say were politically motivated.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, setting up a possible constitutional showdown with congressional leaders over the firing of U.S. attorneys, agreed yesterday to make White House political strategist Karl Rove available for questioning on Capitol Hill, but not in public or under oath. The concessions failed to placate Democrats, who have accused the White House and Justice Department of dismissing eight federal prosecutors for political reasons. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees readied plans to authorize the issuance of subpoenas for Rove and other officials today and tomorrow.

WASHINGTON -- The White House began floating the names of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday as the Justice Department released more internal documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year. One prominent Republican, who earlier had predicted that Gonzales would survive the controversy, said he expected both Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to resign soon. Another well-connected Republican said that White House officials have launched an aggressive search for Gonzales' replacement, though President Bush hadn't decided whether to ask for his resignation.

WASHINGTON -- The White House began floating the names of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday as the Justice Department released more internal documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year. One prominent Republican, who earlier had predicted that Gonzales would survive the controversy, said he expected both Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to resign soon. Another well-connected Republican said that White House officials have launched an aggressive search for Gonzales' replacement, though President Bush hadn't decided whether to ask for his resignation.