WASHINGTON, 28 October 2003 — President Bush said yesterday his staff is cooperating with an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, but stopped short of saying whether the White House would hand over top-level papers that may be subpoenaed.
“Those are very sensitive documents,” Bush said, adding that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales was working with Thomas Kean, chairman of the commission, on this issue.
“The president is correct on both counts,” said Al Felzenberg, spokesman for the commission. “They are very sensitive documents. That’s why we are having negotiations. These aren’t things you just hand out to folks.” But he added that Kean “feels we need certain things to do our job.”
The 10-member, bipartisan commission has until May 27 to submit a report that also will deal with law enforcement, diplomacy, immigration, commercial aviation and the flow of assets to terror organizations.
Bush’s remarks, which he made to reporters in the Oval Office after meeting with his top advisers on Iraq, were underscored later by White House press secretary Scott McClellan. But McClellan, too, stopped short of saying the White House will turn over certain papers, such as transcripts of the president’s daily terrorism briefings.
“We’ll work cooperatively with the commission,” McClellan said. “We will continue working closely with them to resolve any remaining issues.”
“The president made it clear through memos that were sent by the chief of staff and more recently by his general counsel to agencies throughout the federal government that we are very supportive of these efforts and that the administration should work cooperatively with the commission to help learn the full truth of matters,” the spokesman said.
Earlier this month, the independent commission voted to issue a subpoena to the Federal Aviation Administration for documents pertaining to the investigation. The commission said the FAA subpoena will “put other agencies on notice that our document requests must be taken as seriously as a subpoena.”
