Karl Rove Ignores Congressional Subpoena

President Bush's former White House aide Karl Rove thumbed his nose at a congressional subpoena to appear before the House Judiciary subcommittee on Thursday morning. He has refused to testify about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman. Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subcommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate - perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress.

The White House has cited executive privilege as a reason Rove and others who serve or served in the administration should not testify, arguing that internal administration communications are confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify. Rove says he is bound to follow the White House's guidance, although he has offered to answer questions specifically on the Siegelman case, but only with no transcript taken and not under oath.

A decision on whether to pursue contempt charges now goes to the full Judiciary Committee and ultimately to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Read the entire Washington Post article about Karl Rove's refusal to appear here.


plez sez: the white house has long contended that none of its current or former aides to the president would testify for this democratic congress. White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers didn't show up, either... their cases are currently dragging through the federal courts.

once again, the bush administration is exposing the ineptitude and toothless wrangling of the democrats in congress - what if the democrats didn't take action against nixon administration insiders during the watergate scandal of the 1970's? do you think newt gingrich and bob barr even blinked before drafting impeachment proceedings on bill clinton during the monica lewinsky scandal in 1998?

i cringe everytime i hear that a decision concerning the bush administration falls upon the desk of nancy pelosi... you know that she isn't going to take any harsh action against the current administration. i would bet that she'll be harder on Obama than she's been on bush! and karl rove is sitting at home laughing his ass off.

they knew he had no intention of showing up. if i had been pelosi, i would've had the congressional police department sitting outside rove's house waiting for his time to appear to pass. and then i would've had them arrest rove on the charge of contempt of congress!

wishful thinking... i know!

plez note: for some reason this story got buried by the mainstream press. it is mentioned in the Washington Post, but is nowhere near the front page of their website. The New York Times has it buried it in the Washington sub-section of the US section and the AJC didn't even carry the AP story! if it was mentioned on the news, it got a passing reference in favor of the much more popular, but less consequential, banter of Jesse Jackson wanting to castrate Barack Obama.

one of the roles of congress is to provide a check and balance to the powers of the president! if they cannot (or will not) question (under oath) those who advise the president to engage in illegal activities, then we are losing a key benefit of our style of government. as this sits, george w. bush (and by extension, dick cheney) do not have to answer to the People of the united states... this is a stinging indictment on the inept leadership that currently sits in the House and the Senate!