Bush Invokes Executive Privilege: ‘President Bush invoked executive privilege for the first time Thursday to keep Congress from seeing documents of prosecutors’ decision-making in cases ranging from a decades-old Boston murder to the Clinton-era fund-raising probe.

“I believe congressional access to these documents would be contrary to the national interest,” Bush wrote in a memo ordering Attorney General John Ashcroft to withhold the documents from a House investigative committee that subpoenaed them.

The decision institutes a dramatic change in the way the administration intends to deal with Congress after years in which the Justice Department, sometimes reluctantly, shared sensitive investigative documents with lawmakers.

Republicans and Democrats alike excoriated the decision, suggesting Bush was creating a “monarchy” or “imperial” presidency to keep Congress for overseeing the executive branch and guarding against corruption.

The Republican House committee chairman who sought the documents raised the possibility of taking Bush to court for contempt of Congress.’ Associated Press