by Robert Schmidt

July 19 (Bloomberg) — House Democrats, escalating a battle with the White House, took the first step in seeking to hold President George W. Bush’s chief of staff in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena requesting documents on the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors.

Voting 7-3 along party lines, a House Judiciary subcommittee approved a resolution rejecting executive privilege claims made by Joshua Bolten in refusing to turn over e-mails and memos on the firings. The panel adopted a similar measure last week after ex-White House Counsel Harriet Miers declined to testify about the dismissals.

Bolten was subpoenaed in June because as chief of staff he is the custodian of the White House’s records. The next step for the panel would be to vote on a contempt resolution. If that is adopted by the full House, the U.S. attorney in Washington, a Bush appointee, would be asked to pursue a prosecution.

(Original Article)