Paul Kiel February 27, 2007, 6:13 PM

House Democrats and federal prosecutors have struck what seems like a historic deal to turn over congressional documents related to the Duke Cunningham investigation.

The prosecutors from California’s Southern District have been chasing the documents, from the House Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence, since last May. After originally requesting the documents, prosecutors finally served a subpoena for them in December after negotiations apparently broke down.

The investigation resulted in two major indictments two weeks ago, against contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA executive director Dusty Foggo, and is ongoing. As The Hill detailed, the indictment against Wilkes indicated that other lawmakers seem to be in prosecutors’ sights.

According to a statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office outlining the deal, prosecutors have withdrawn their subpoenas. In exchange, House Democrats have started handing over documents (whether it’s everything prosecutors asked for is unclear) and will not assert that the material is Constitutionally privileged under the Speech and Debate Clause, as Democrats had reportedly been considering. In addition, two Republican congressional staffers will be testifying to the grand jury in California on Thursday.

The full statement from Pelosi’s office is below.

The full statement from Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly:

“The House Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence, and the Department of Justice, have reached agreements that respond to the efforts of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California to obtain documents and testimony from the House in connection with the U.S. Attorney’s criminal investigation into activities related to former Congressman Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham.

“The agreements permit the committees to cooperate with the investigation in a manner that respects the constitutional prerogatives of the House and does not impair the committees’ functioning or compromise their legislative and oversight responsibilities.

“Under the agreements, the five outstanding subpoenas – one to each of the three committees for documents, one to a current committee staffer for testimony, and one to a former committee staffer for testimony – have been withdrawn. The committees have agreed to voluntarily provide the Department with copies of some documents immediately (which has already happened), and to voluntarily provide the Department with access to other documents over the next several weeks. In addition, the current and former committee staffers will voluntarily testify before the grand jury on Thursday, March 1st. Finally, because all the information being provided to the U.S. Attorney is privileged under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, the committees have agreed to decline to assert the privilege with respect to that information.

“The Speaker was aware of the negotiations, which began nearly one year ago. However, all decisions were made by the committees themselves. The current committee chairmen took the same cooperative approach toward the Office of the U.S. Attorney as did the committee chairmen in the last Congress. The Speaker is pleased that the two branches of government have been able to work together to reach an acceptable compromise that respects the legitimate needs of each branch.”

Brent Wilkes, Duke Cunningham