By Thomas Ferraro

The White House chief of staff faced possible contempt charges after a congressional panel on Thursday ruled as invalid President George W. Bush’s bid to limit the probe of the firing of federal prosecutors.

On a party-line vote of 7-3, a Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee rejected Bush’s contention that his claim of executive privilege shields the top aide, Joshua Bolten, from having to turn over subpoenaed documents.

“Those claims are not legally valid,” said panel Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat.

Sanchez said she hoped the White House would yield and produce the documents, but the administration accused Congress of pushing for a courtroom showdown.

The administration says its firing of nine of the 93 U.S. attorneys last year were justified. But critics say the ousters were politically motivated, perhaps even to influence ongoing criminal probes of Democratic or Republican lawmakers.

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