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Former White House aide Sara M. Taylor will refuse to testify today about matters President Bush has deemed shielded by executive privilege, but she will offer to respond to other questions from senators that do not breach White House confidentiality, her attorney said yesterday. The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Taylor to testify this morning about the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys last year and the Bush administration's response to the controversy that followed. Bush this week invoked executive privilege, and White House counsel Fred F. Fielding sent Taylor a letter directing her not to discuss internal communications. "Ms. Taylor will...

Bush Denies Congress Access to Key Aides Jul 9 10:25 AM US/Eastern By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from former White House aides Sara Taylor and Harriet Miers. The White House offered once more to make the pair available for private, off-the-record interviews on any role it might have played in the firings of several U.S. attorneys. In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and...

Washington, DC - The lawyer for former White House political director Sara Taylor -- who has been subpoenaed to testify before the senate this week about the firing of several U.S. attorneys -- sent a letter to Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, asking that she not be used as "the focus of the constitutional struggle." The former White House staffer is asking for compassion from the Senate Judiciary Committee in what may be another constitutional standoff between the legislative and executive branches, while the committee's Democratic chairman is sharpening his words. "In our view, it is unfair to Ms. Taylor that...

PALO ALTO, California (CNN) -- This week's Inside Edge ties to a new segment I am doing on CNN television.Each month on CNN's "Live From" with anchors Kyra Phillips and Miles O'Brien, I'll profile five individuals to watch in the political arena.I start with "the next Karl Rove," five political consultants to watch.While few people outside of Texas knew who he was a decade ago, today Karl Rove is a household name as President Bush's top political adviser. Barbara Walters even named him to her "2004 Ten Most Fascinating People" list.Rove is perhaps the most influential political adviser of the...