The Bush administration has rejected lawmakers’ demands to hand over documents related to the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. On Thursday, White House counsel Fred Fielding told Congress the president would invoke executive privilege to deny access to documents from former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor. Fielding also said neither Miers nor Taylor would testify at hearings next month as called for under their subpoenas. The rebuke could set off a new congressional showdown including efforts to cite the White House for contempt. Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy said the White House is practicing “Nixonian stonewalling.”