From the New York Times:

Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, has agreed to answer some questions as a “willing and cooperative private citizen,” during testimony about the United States attorney firings last year when she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee later today.

But, as a former presidential adviser, she will also honor the president’s invocation of executive privilege to keep quiet about “White House consideration, deliberations, or communications, whether internal or external, relating to the possible dismissal or appointment of United States attorneys,” according to a written copy of her opening statement provided by her lawyer’s office. Those parameters were set forth in a letter to Ms. Taylor’s attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, from the White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding.

Ms. Taylor acknowledges in the statement that differences may emerge about what falls under Mr. Fielding’s parameters and that, “This may be frustrating to you and me.”

In her statement Ms. Taylor portrays herself as caught in the middle of a Constitutional clash between congressional committees seeking answers in the attorney firings and the president, who is accusing them of interfering with his right to private counsel.

I’m not a lawyer, but it seems pretty clear to me. If Ms. Taylor refuses to answer questions put to her by a congressional committee, she can be cited for contempt of Congress and end up in the Rebar Hotel. If she decides to tell all and not honor the request of the president, what can he do? Send her to Gitmo? Take away her birthday?

I also don’t understand this interpretation the White House is putting on executive privilege. They are using it to prevent White House aides from testifying in public and under oath, but waiving it if they hold the chats in private, without taking an oath (as if that makes any difference), and if there’s no transcript of the conversation. I would think that executive privilege is binary: either you cite it or you don’t; you don’t get to limit it to some discussions and not others. At least that’s what they told Nixon and Clinton, right?

Oh, wait… I forgot. The Bush administration gets to just make shit up as they go along. The rules don’t apply to them. So they can do anything they want.