ASHINGTON, April 29 � The arrangement under which President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
testified on Thursday without speaking under oath was consistent with the
practices of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks and with
the history of presidential testimony.
Almost none of the witnesses who have
testified in private, as Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney did, have been put under
oath, said Al Felzenberg, a commission spokesman. He said the
investigators had found witnesses to be more forthcoming if they were not
sworn. The only time witnesses in private sessions were placed under oath,
Mr. Felzenberg said, was when factual matters were in
dispute.
On the other hand, all the recent witnesses who testified in public
hearings were sworn in. Mr. Felzenberg said the commissioners felt that
the public oath was in line with "the solemnity of the situation" and that
the public had come to expect witnesses to take an oath at public
hearings.
Over the years, the rule of thumb for presidential testimony is that
the president is placed under oath when he testifies in a criminal
proceeding or a lawsuit, as was the case, for instance, when Bill Clinton
gave testimony to Kenneth W. Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel,
and in a deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit.
But presidents have generally not taken an oath when they were
testifying before a fact-finding body. No oath was given, for instance,
when Ronald Reagan answered questions from members of the commission
investigating the Iran-contra affair or when Gerald R. Ford testified
before a House subcommittee about his pardon of Richard M.
Nixon.
