By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former White House aide apologized on Wednesday for calling one of nine fired federal prosecutors “lazy” but refused to answer a host of questions at a congressional probe of the dismissals.

Sara Taylor, who had been White House political director until six weeks ago, testified under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to a subpoena.

But at the direction of President George W. Bush, Taylor refused to answer certain questions about the administration’s ouster last year of nine of the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys.

“I will answer faithfully those questions that are appropriate for a private citizen to answer while doing my best to respect the president’s directive that his staff’s communications be privileged,” Taylor said.

Bush, under fire on a number of fronts from the Iraq war to U.S. immigration policy, claimed executive privilege on Monday to shield Taylor and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers from having to testify to Congress about the dismissals.

Critics charge that the firings of the prosecutors appear to have been politically motivated — perhaps even to influence investigations of Democratic or Republican lawmakers.

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