In his first job as a White House lawyer, Fred Fielding, barely in his 30s, broke the news to President Nixon about the Watergate break-in.
In 1981, when President Reagan was shot and lying on an operating table, it was Fielding who helped settle a dispute about who was in charge of the nation. A few years later, Reagan's counsel stood at the president's bedside, making sure he was competent to reclaim his authority after cancer surgery.
Now, more than two decades later, President Bush has brought the veteran lawyer back to handle legal fights the White House expects with the new Democratic Congress.
In an Associated Press interview, he is so soft-spoken that some of his words are drowned out by heat blowing from a register across the room. But Fielding, who has defended huge corporate clients, is no pushover.
Still, he insists he has no interest in stonewalling Democrats, who plan to investigate the Iraq war, suspected government fraud and White House decision-making on environmental policy, secret surveillance and other matters. The White House could erect roadblocks to congressional subpoenas and requests for information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6433425,00.html