The White House Tuesday offered that President Bush’s adviser Karl Rove and other current and former administration officials would appear before Congress to discuss the firing of eight U.S. attorneys but stipulated that the testimony would not be made under oath. That offer was swiftly rejected by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

In an afternoon press conference, Bush said the White House is offering lawmakers an extraordinary amount of information, adding he hoped that Democrats would not go down the path of issuing subpoenas.

White House counsel Fred Fielding said the offer of making Rove, former Bush counsel Harriet Miers, deputy White House counsel William Kelley and White House aide Scott Jennings available is “fair, reasonable and respectful.”

Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary Committee have indicated they want the authority to subpoena the administration officials and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said he was disappointed by the proposal but vowed to take it back to the committee.

“I don’t accept his offer,” said Leahy. “It is not constructive and it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation, or to prejudge its outcome.”

Fielding said interviews with the four individuals would be limited to “communications between the White House and persons outside the White House concerning the request for resignations of the U.S. attorneys in question; and communication between the White House and Members of Congress concerning those requests.”

In addition, Fielding stipulated that the interviews “would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas.”