POLITICS: White House Won't Play Ball with Payola Probe

www.guardian.co.uk
The Bush administration is impeding an investigation into the Education Department's hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams by refusing to allow key White House officials to be interviewed, a Democratic lawmaker briefed on the review said Thursday.

In addition, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is considering invoking a privilege that he said would require information to be deleted when the final version is publicly released, which is expected within days.

Miller called for Jack Higgins, the inspector general at the Education Department, to delay the report until Spellings agrees not to invoke "deliberative process privilege'' and the White House grants interviews with current or former officials familiar with the deal.

"The public's right to know is absolutely more important than any claim of privilege that the White House or the Department of Education might make,'' Miller said. "The public has a right to all the facts about possible misconduct.''


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