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Senate Reacts To Court Ruling With New Call For Testimony From Rove And Bolton
Just hours after a federal judge shot down the White House's claim to sweeping immunity from Congressional oversight, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) fired off a round of letters renewing his demand for testimony from Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten.
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman sent a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding asking whether the two officials will agree to testify in light of today's ruling against the Bush administration's blanket claim of executive privilege.
The investigation at issue is the allegedly political firings of eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate committee issued subpoenas in June and July 2007 for Bolton and Rove to testify on Capitol Hill.
"Today's decision renders the grounds for Mr. Bolten and Mr. Rove's refusal to comply with the Committee's subpoenas moot," Leahy wrote in the letter to Fielding.
Leahy also sent a terse letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking whether he planned to rescind the legal memos based on the theory of blanket executive privileged that the judge dismissed today.
Please advise me by no later than next Thursday, August 7, when you will withdraw the erroneous [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion from Stephen Bradbury relied upon by the White House to justify its non-compliance with congressional subpoenas since that opinion has been repudiated by the court.In addition, please inform me whether the court's decision will cause you to re-evaluate your memos and those from [Office of Legal Counsel] in support of overbroad and unsubstantiated executive privilege claims not only in the U.S. Attorneys investigation, but also in other matters, like the claims used to block Congress from investigating warrantless wiretapping, the leak of the name of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame for political retribution, and White House interference in the Environmental Protection Agency's decision-making. Which of these do you now intend to withdraw?
Leahy sounds like he's asking for a complete surrender in this ongoing battle over White House officials' testimony. But there's a lot of litigation still to go in this case.
Comments (18)
"asking whether the two officials will agree to testify"
Ask and you will receive...
"No!"
July 31, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Testify and walk around free for the rest of your life.
Refuse to testify and go to jail for a few months.
If Rove won't testify at least we'll get the long-awaited perp walk.
August 1, 2008 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
The problem AG has is the court and Congress do not agree with the President, and there are legal orders the AG must now enforce. His delaying tactics are not winning him (needed, relevant) friends.
July 31, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
All of the Committees should start issuing subpoenas to as many Bush officials as possible so they'll be too busy testifying to do any more damage to our economy or national security.
July 31, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is he going to give to Batman?
(Note: Sen. Leahy was in Dark Knight and in other Batman movies)
July 31, 2008 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
A "terse letter"? Uh oh, here come the Democratic big guns!
July 31, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Watch the spelling of the B name in the headline. Josh uses an e. John, the UN ambassador/hater, uses an o.
July 31, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Buah adminstration has to believe there is political value in delaying the inevitable because their only chance of avoiding exposure and legal accountability lies in the hope, however remote, that John McCain will be elected president. The big fish will play this out to the very end, but the little fish are going to get more and more afraid of being left twisting in the wind as the prospect of McCain getting elected becomes dimmer. It's going to be fun to watch the little fish squirm trying to decide if they should rely on the big fish to save them or if they'll decide to go it alone and try to save themselves.
July 31, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blah, blah, blah. Senator Lazy-he, you have NO credibility left. You huff and you puff, but you NEVER blow the house in.
July 31, 2008 9:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
More letters! It's insane. Anyway, if Pat had been watching FoxNews channel last night he would have seen Karl talking about this. He's not testifying anywhere anytime soon.
August 1, 2008 7:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Letters may fly on gossamer wings, but pigs will never leave the ground.
Clap! Clap! "I do believe in fairies. I do believe in fairies"
Pigs don't fly. There ain't no such thing as fairies, and Karl Rove will never testify under oath.
I could be wrong. As alien as that sounds (for I am seldom ever wrong) I still don't believe it's time to invest in porcine aviation. Even so, I'm glad the good Senator is still trying.
August 1, 2008 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
If anyone, especially Leahy, believes that either Rove or Bolten will have any memory of any events if he is under oath to tell "the truth and nothing but the truth", I would like some of what they have been smoking.
I would also like to see all these "memory loss" people in jail after they write their books and prove that they lied under oath when they said they couldn't remember any events which happened during their political "service" to America - excuse me - during their political service to the Republican party.
August 1, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is how you build your legal case, brick by brick.
Rove and Bolten now have to respond and assert specific basis for privilege and prepare a log of excluded documents.
Refusal flys in the face of the district court ruling. It can lead not only to contempt of congress but contempt of court based on a motion to enforce the court's ruling.
Contempt of Court arising from an asserted privilege claim is very risky. If the court decides you have not complied, it can rule that your failure to comply was a waiver of any privilege claim you had and rule that the responsive documents are no longer privileged.
Then you have to cough them up; or shred em'. You can't be safe shredding because the other side can point out missing documents and make life miserable, or create documents you can't defend against because you don't have a complete record.
August 1, 2008 9:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why people like Leahy get print time when they simply bloviate again is beyond me.
August 1, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can remember when the Repugnuts were circling like sharks for Clinton, that every administration official was fair game. Their theory, which I agreed with, was that these officials were ultimately repsponsible to the American people.
What, if any, oath did these officials take when assuming their office? I'm sure there was some big fanfare swearing in ceremony. Did they swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, or did they swear to support and defend George W. Bush?
This is the strongest hand the Democrats have to play right now and I hope like heck they use it. The staunchest of W's supporters were put on their heels by the politicization of Main Justice. Thw "W" stickers finally came off the cars and the authoritarians were left feeling a bit perplexed. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!
August 1, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Go Team America! Fuck Yeah!
Bump into them... that'll teach 'em!
August 1, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This will only be the begining. Just wait until the WhiteHouse has a democrat sitting in it, the House and Senate have Super Majorities, and the people want justice for 8 years of injustice. the New admin will have these crimminals perp walking on a daily basis. CANT WAIT.
August 1, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you Judge Bates.
Even if an appeal looms, this action gets the attention of the people beyond the choir. It's an all-hands heads up.
The law does apply evenly. It is intact. Two out of three now tends to be the majority and I am very happy.
Thank you, Justice, Rep Conyers, Sen Leahy, and all your teams. Thanks for cranking up the comeback.
August 1, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink