White House confirms Fielding hired as counsel

Washington, Jan 9: President George W Bush has chosen prominent Washington lawyer Fred Fielding as White House counsel, replacing Harriet Miers, the Bush administration confirmed today.

The appointment of Fielding, who served in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations, comes as Bush prepares for the likelihood of hearings and investigations by the new Democratic Congress, whose leaders have promised aggressive oversight.

White House spokesman Tony Snow praised Fielding as ''a guy of enormous experience and competence.'' Fielding was White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986 and served as associate counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1972, where he was deputy to John Dean during the Watergate scandal. More recently, he was a member of the commission that investigated the September 11 attacks.

Miers, a longtime friend of Bush from Texas, has served in the White House for the past six years. In 2005, Bush nominated her to fill an opening on the Supreme Court but later withdrew it after his conservative allies questioned Miers' lack of judicial experience.

Reuters