July 10, 2007

Bush Claims Executive Privilege re: U.S. Attorney Firings

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The president refused today to hand over subpoenaed documents related to the U.S. attorney firings, or to allow the subpoenaed testimony of former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political affairs advisor Sara Taylor. Bush claimed that doing so would violate his executive privilege to obtain candid advice from his administration. Every president since World War II has eventually complied with congressional subpoenas, although Nixon and Clinton went to court and lost before acquiescing. There is little constitutional precedent establishing how far the privilege really extends, and Congress is standing firm in its demands, so a showdown is in the making.

Bush’s exact words were: This violates my legislexecutive—what is it again, Dick? My executive prilivege—just leave me the hell alone, okay, y’all? Damn! I’m the decider! (Note: This last part may or may not actually have occurred.)

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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