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Conyers to Rove: No

House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers' (D-MI) response to Karl Rove's offer to testify by letter: Nope.

The committee wants Rove to testify about his role in the prosecution of ex-Gov. Don Siegelman (D-AL), but Rove has refused to appear for a hearing, instead offering to speak privately with staff off the record. He modified that offer to testify by letter.

But Conyers says that's a no-go. If Rove is willing to create a record with a letter, he argues, then there's no reason why he shouldn't be willing to sit down with staff for an on-the-record interview. Conyers says the committee is prepared to offer "other possible accommodations, such as providing a list of initial questions that may be asked," but there must be a live interview and a transcript. Conyers again mentions the possibility of a subpoena should talks break down.

So now the ball is in Rove's court.

May 14, 2008

Via Fax and U.S. Mail

Mr. Robert D. Luskin

Patton Boggs LLP

2550 M Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20037-1350

Dear Mr. Luskin:

We are writing in response to your May 9 letter with respect to the invitation to Karl Rove to testify before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the politicization of the Department of Justice, including allegations regarding the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman. Because your letter appears to reflect several misunderstandings concerning the subjects we wish to question Mr. Rove about and concerning Committee procedures, we hope that this letter will clarify these matters and help avoid the use of compulsory process. Our position remains, however, that since your client has made a number of on-the-record comments on these subjects to the media, and in light of your (now modified) statement that Mr. Rove would be willing to testify, we can see no justification for his refusal to speak on the record to the Committee. Please contact Committee counsel or respond in writing no later than May 21 as to whether your client will make himself available to the Committee for questioning.

As our previous letters have made clear, the Siegelman case is a principal reason for our invitation to Mr. Rove. But as we have also explained, that issue cannot be separated from the broader concerns about politicization within the Department and the U.S. Attorney firings, and Mr. Rove has made on-the-record comments to the media about all these interrelated matters. This is different from the case of Harriet Miers, who has not made such public statements and has not been linked to the Siegelman case. As we have made clear, Mr. Rove can decline to answer specific questions based on privilege or other grounds, which are most appropriately addressed on a question-by -question basis, not by a refusal to appear altogether.

Your letter also suggests that we address written questions to Mr. Rove, which may reflect a misunderstanding of Committee procedure. Although we do often address written questions to witnesses, that occurs after live testimony, which is critical in order to allow the follow up and give-and-take that is necessary to inquiries of this nature.

Since you indicate Mr. Rove is now willing to submit written answers to questions, which by definition would be recorded in a manner similar to a transcript, we do not understand why he would not submit to providing transcribed answers to live questions, as he has done in media interviews. We are willing to consider other possible accommodations, such as providing a list of initial questions that may be asked. But your suggestion that the Committee be limited to written answers is unacceptable.

We hope you and your client will reconsider the decision not to testify on a voluntary basis. Please direct any questions and your response to the Judiciary Committee office, 2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (tel: 202-225-3951; fax: 202-225-7680).

Sincerely,

____________________________________

John Conyers, Jr.

Chairman

____________________________________

Linda T. Sánchez

Chair, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law

____________________________________

Artur Davis

Member, Committee on the Judiciary

____________________________________

Tammy Baldwin

Member, Committee on the Judiciary

cc: Hon. Lamar S. Smith

Hon. Chris Cannon


Comments (18)

Frog-march the *ucker in. This stonewalling nonsense has got to be stopped.

This isn't about avoiding written record. Its about not having to confront questions on a face to face basis. If Rove is given a list of questions to answer in his living room there is not a thing that will ever be hung on him. If you can trip up this less that genius genius..you will have him. This guy can be made afraid, he can be broken and he can be made to come to terms. Everything he is asking for confirms that.
Make him testify in Congress.
DO NOT GIVE HIM THE QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE
Swear him.
Hold him in contempt if he offers even the slightest opportunity to do so.
Be very firm with him and force him to respect the process..if not give him to the Seargent at Arms...

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Karl Rove will never testify under oath - Never.

Little Georgie just won't allow it. He'll stamp his feet. He'll grimace. He'll tell the world that the terrists will come if Karl goes to the Hill to testify. He'll say that Karl's got executive privledge. He'll pre-pardon Karl. He'll bomb Iran. Little Georgie can't allow anyone to testify against him.

The day Karl Rove testifies under oath is the day to start investing in porcine aviation.


ITMFA

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No negotiations! Subpoena him today, and if he refuses to appear, invoke the House's inherent contempt power. Send the Sergeant at Arms with some Capitol Police to his spider hole. Arrest his ass, and perp-walk him up the front steps of the Capitol. Keep him chained to a radiator in the Capitol basement until he talks.

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So, evidently the Siegelman case went beyond Karl Rove's meddling. "Executive privilege" implies Georgejr's involvement too, n'est-ce pas?

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Why not threaten to hit Rove with a stove on the head? Bet he would get his pasty a$$ in front of Conyers and Co. pretty quick.

Seems to have worked wonders for prisoners the US has held overseas.

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Let me guess what comes next. Rove refuses, Conyers sends another strongly worded letter. The clock keeps ticking, and Rove gets off without ever having to testify and with no consequences. Same old story. Dems can't ever seem to get past strongly worded letters. Total f*#king impotence.

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We don't want any convictions until after Jan 20, that way he can't get pardoned by W.

Our country no longer has laws and Congress is relegated to being something we fund for no purpose if they do not do the oversight they are supposed to do.

That a governor has been sent to prison for being a Democrat is the finest example of just how fucked up our system is.

No letters.
No pre-sent questions.
Jail.
Prison.
Period!

A little time in the pokey will open Rove's lips faster than anything. I say hold him until he talks - so Bush cannot get him out. You can't pardon what hasn't been judged.

STOP FUCKING WITH DEMOCRACY, Dems. DO SOMETHING! You have the power to oversee, for gods sake, use it.

Maybe we can add Rove's name to the list of people in the Bush Administration who have been charged with war crimes. Ok, ok...that's a stretch but, man, it sounds good.

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I agree with your post, but nothing is going to happen in this or the next Congress because of our broken, two lets-party, system :-[

Rove, Rove, Rove.
Protecting Rove at all costs is SO important to BushCo, for so many reasons.

Do GWB & friends really think we'll stop looking for those reasons, ever stop rooting them out? It's akin to rooting out the Nazis to cleanse Europe after WW2.

We will never stop until Justice is served. On you all.

As a former resident of Detroit, MI, I believe that John Conyers will take Rove to task in a very strong way. As stated by Joanne, let Rove be the start of the incrimination of the Bush League of Death. To be named: Wolfovitz, Bremer, Rumsfield, Cheney, and last but not least, Condi Rice (for enabling the whole shebang).

God bless their souls when their time of tyranny comes to a screeching halt.

I would prefer that Rove testify in an orange jumpsuit after doing the shackle-shuffle.

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Dear Richard,

You'll see that lovely visage when pigs fly.
Little Georgie simply can not afford to lose what Unkle Karl would let out.

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I've given alot of info to the dems at US SEN JUD COMMITTEE.

I've watched Leahy and others "use that info" in veiled obtuse ways like when Leahy asked Gonzo "whether the NSA warrantless wiretapping was used for political purposes"....which was one of the main themes in my DASCHLE CAMPAIGN MEMO and 47 page US DOJ OIG complaint.

Then...Leahy...dropped the ball and did not follow up after Gonzo said, "....it could have been...".

Why didn't Leahy ask, "...Have you read Bean's complaint and allegation that the CALEA COMPUTERIZED WIRETAP INTERFACE installed at every telecomm provider" is illegally opened by right wing telecomm providers to facilitate a "secret right wing political police" ?

Why doesn't Leahy and Dems in the House use PERSONAL PRONOUNS LIKE:

--CHENEY ORDERING MURDER OF CHRISTINA MOORE USING NSA 902ND COUNTERINTEL GROUPS SIGINT delivered to the cutout, Austin lawyer Whittington (later shot by drunked Dead Eye Dick after Cheney recieved an NSA memo detailing my allegation made at an internet discussion forum).

--THREE SOUTH DAKOTA PATRIOT ACT MURDERS OF THREE OF MY KNOWN ASSOCIATES.

--TORTURE OF AN INNOCENT MEDICAL DOCTOR NAMED DR. MARK GORDON while he was a "reluctant, stalked, coerced cooperating witness" taking special agent STEVEN PLUTA'S POLYGRAPH EXAMS AT THE ST. PAUL FED BUILDING across the street from Gordon's apartment that was outfitted with pin hole spy cameras used to harass Gordon when "FBI/NSA/CIA/DOD CIFA ?...watched Gordon have sex with his girlfriends?

IS THIS THE MISSING CIA INTERROGATION TAPES THAT WERE DESTROYED?

You got to understand how worthless and idiotic and weak and cowardly the punk idiot clown whores at the Democratic party are...........and how..........they routinely script hearings for MUELLER who has "joined this conspiracy to violate the Patriot Act" by remaining deliberately indifferent to violations of state and fed laws prohibiting CONSPIRACIES TO COMMIT POLITICAL FEDERAL CRIMES OF VIOLENCE?

Talk to former MINNESOTA US ATTY THOMAS HEFFLEFINGER AND SD US ATTY MICHELLE TAPKEN (a former classmate of mine at The UNIV of South Dakota School of Law).

Dems have these leads...........and only use them secretly to get Gonzo to resign....or as part of ongoing conspiracy against The American People.

I am charging the Democrats with the same crimes MUELLER commits everyday....DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE....CRIMINAL APATHY....OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE....SILENTLY SANCTIONING OUTRAGEOUS CRIMES.

I want to see LEAHY, BIDEN, WAXMAN all alone to ram these facts down their fat cowardly punk throat....to watch them stammer, lie, con, and weasel out of the admission that THE DEMS ARE TOO WEAK, TOO INCOMPETENT, AND TOO FU--ING WORTHLESS TO EVERY PUT FAITH OR TRUST IN.

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What I'm waiting for is to see who with BushCo dares to travel outside of the U.S. after Jan 20. You can bet that as we blog, some government is planning how to throw a bag over each one of their heads and whisk them away to an undisclosed location to charge them with war crimes.

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Rove is on borrowed time and he knows it. His election cheating machine is broken. Just to think, this criminal thought that the American justice system would continue to turn away from all of what he has done in his attempt, along with the Bush Administration and the neo-cons, to distroy this country. It may not be this year but he will sooner or later find himself combing the three strands of hair on his head in the big house with the other ladies in his cell block.

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John Conyers, Henry Waxman, WAY TO GO, BOYS!!!

Dog that mf until his feet bleed. Show the world there's a price to pay for undermining and subverting American democracy!

And tell Rove he can forget about Lompoc. Gitmo would be okay but Hazelton or some other maximum security federal detention center would be better. Somewhere where he'll have a chance to call some permanent resident sweetheart.

Let the justice system do to Karl Rove what Karl Rove has done to the electoral process for twenty years.

He makes me so mad. I don't know whether Boosh or Roverer is worse.

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