NBC's Gregory omitted White House preconditions for Rove, Miers interviews

On the March 20 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News, NBC News chief White House correspondent David Gregory reported that "White House counsel Fred Fielding announced that key Bush advisers -- Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers -- will agree to be interviewed by congressional committees investigating the firing of the U.S. attorneys, but not under oath, an apparent deal breaker for Democrats." However, Gregory left out other restrictions that Bush has imposed. In addition to insisting that Rove and Miers not be interviewed under oath, Fielding laid out the following demands in a March 20 letter: that interviews be conducted behind closed doors, that they not be televised or transcribed, that no subpoenas be issued following the interviews, and that questions may not concern internal White House communications.

The New York Times reported on March 21:

President Bush and Congress clashed Tuesday over an inquiry into the firing of federal prosecutors and appeared headed toward a constitutional showdown over demands from Capitol Hill for internal White House documents and testimony from top advisers to the president.

Under growing political pressure, the White House offered to allow members of Congressional committees to hold private interviews with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff; Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel; and two other officials. It also offered to provide access to e-mail messages and other communications about the dismissals, but not those between White House officials.

Democrats promptly rejected the offer, which specified that the officials would not testify under oath, that there would be no transcript and that Congress would not subsequently subpoena them.

''I don't accept his offer,'' said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. ''It is not constructive, and it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation or to prejudge its outcome.''

The weblog Talking Points Memo posted a copy of the letter Fielding sent to Congress, which laid out the terms noted above, and further stipulated:

Such interviews may cover, and would be limited to, the subject of (a) communications between the White House and persons outside the White House concerning the request for resignations of the U.S. Attorneys in questions; and (b) communications between the White House and Members of Congress concerning those requests.

Gregory, however, simply reported that the White House insisted that Rove and Miers not be under oath. From the March 20 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams:

GREGORY: On Capitol Hill, White House counsel Fred Fielding announced that key Bush advisers -- Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers -- will agree to be interviewed by congressional committees investigating the firing of the U.S. attorneys, but not under oath, an apparent deal breaker for Democrats.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): It's sort of giving us the opportunity to talk to them, but not giving us the opportunity to get to the bottom of what really happened here.

GREGORY: Democrats cited precedent: more than two dozen Clinton administration advisers who agreed to testify under oath. Fielding insisted in a letter to the committee chairs that interviews along with email communication between officials at Justice and the White House would provide, quote, "a virtually unprecedented window" into administration decision-making.

—S.S.M.