Bush to Limit 9/11 Panel Session
President to Meet With
Only a Few Members, Official Says
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 15, 2004; Page A12
The White House said yesterday that President Bush
plans to meet only with a limited number of
representatives from the commission investigating
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite a statement
issued Friday that suggested he would meet with the
whole panel.
The new details surprised some commission officials
and members -- who believed they had secured a
promise from Bush for a private meeting with all 10
members -- and could add to the tensions that have
strained relations between the two sides.
"While details of the private sessions are
still to be determined, the White House does not
expect the president to meet with the entire
commission," an administration official said
yesterday.
The official added that the White House had not
decided whether a meeting would include only the
panel's chairman, former New Jersey governor Thomas
H. Kean (R), and vice chairman, former
representative Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), or other
members, as well.
Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democrat
and former Watergate prosecutor, said it "would
be important for all the members of the commission
to have an opportunity to participate in an
interview such as this. . . ."
"There is a significant difference in being
present, seeing a witness in person and having an
opportunity to ask follow-up questions, and simply
reading a transcript or memo," he said.
Kean and Hamilton on Friday sent letters to Bush,
Vice President Cheney and their predecessors, Bill
Clinton and Al Gore, requesting private meetings
with the commission and also welcoming the
possibility of public appearances. The commission
wants to question them about intelligence relating
to al Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and
whether signs of an impending attack may have been
missed.
In a statement later Friday, Bush press secretary
Scott McClellan said that "9/11 Commission
Chair Kean and Vice Chair Hamilton today requested a
private meeting with the president to discuss
information relevant to the commission's work. The
president has agreed to the request. . . ."
McClellan added that Bush would not testify
publicly.
Commission spokesman Al Felzenberg said yesterday
that the panel's letter was sent on behalf of the
full panel and McClellan's subsequent statement had
been taken as agreement to those terms. "The
chair and vice chair clearly wrote on behalf of the
commission to request a meeting with the whole
commission," Felzenberg said.
Cheney, Clinton and Gore have also agreed to offer
private testimony to the panel, commission officials
said. The parties have not decided on details,
however, including whether any of the four men will
be asked to testify under oath.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States, which includes five Republicans
and five Democrats, has had a stormy relationship
with the White House since its formation, which the
administration initially opposed. The panel has
twice issued subpoenas for government materials and
has threatened twice more to subpoena the White
House itself.
One major point of friction has been the
administration's insistence on sharply limiting the
panel's access to selected presidential intelligence
briefings, which were shown only to Kean, Hamilton
and two other representatives. A 17-page summary of
the briefings, edited by the White House, was given
to the full commission last week.
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