House subpoenas Rove, Miers

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:03 AM on March 21, 2007.

According to the AP just moments ago:

A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

The White House, for its part, claims executive privilege, refusing to allow Rove or Harriet Miers to testify under oath (though they have said that Rove could testify "in private"). They stand by Alberto Gonzales "insisting that the firings were appropriate."

Via Mahablog (who has suggestions for taking action), the news release from the House Judiciary Committee:

Judiciary Subcommittee Authorizes Chairman Conyers to Issue Subpoenas in US Attorney Investigation

(Washington, DC)- Today, the House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee (CAL) voted to authorize the full committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) to issue subpoenas for current and former White House and Justice Department officials Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, William Kelley, Scott Jennings and Kyle Sampson, as well as documents that the Committee has not yet received.

"The White House's offer provides nothing more than conversations. It does not allow this Committee to get the information we need without transcripts or oaths," Conyers said. "This motion allows the Committee to pursue good faith negotiations. We are continuing our talks with the White House, along with the Senate, but we must protect the interest of the Congress and the American people by maintaining the option to move forward with our investigation with or without continued cooperation from the Administration."

"We have worked toward voluntary cooperation, but we have to prepare for the possibilty that the White House will continue to hide the truth," said CAL Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sánchez. "This Congress respects White House prerogatives as a safeguard for the internal deliberations on the legitimate creation of policy, but they are not a 'get out of jail free' card. There must be accountability."

The motion authorizes the Chairman to issue subpoenas at his discretion for the officials to appear before the Committee relating to the ongoing investigation. It also authorizes Conyers to subpoena additional documents relating to the issue - specifically, unredacted documents that have not previously been provided.

Tagged as: rove, prosecutorgate

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.