NightBlogger

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Former White House adviser Karl Rove on Monday defended his defiance of a congressional subpoena, saying he’s offered lawmakers other ways to question him about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department. In five letters to the House Judiciary Committee, “my lawyer has offered for me to go up to visit with members of Congress, visit with the staff or respond to written questions without foreclosing any future action by Congress,” Rove said. More

Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama. 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. Lawmakers subpoenaed Rove in May in an effort to force him to talk about whether he played a role in prosecutors’ decisions to pursue cases against Democrats, such as former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, or in firing federal prosecutors considered disloyal to the Bush administration. More

Former White House political guru Karl Rove has no problem spouting off his opinions to Fox News or the Wall Street Journal, but he’s being quite cagey in his attempt to avoid sworn testimony on his role in the US Attorney firing scandal. Two prominent House Democrats wrote to Rove’s lawyer Thursday warning that the man who was known as “Bush’s Brain” must comply with a subpoena demanding his testimony or he risks criminal contempt of Congress charges. Rove has been subpoenaed to appear at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week; attorney Robert Luskin has been trying to free him from that obligation, instead offering that Rove would speak to committee members behind closed doors, off the record and not under oath. More

BEN FELLER
Associated Press
President Bush broke his promise to the country by refusing to fire aide Karl Rove for leaking a CIA agent’s identity, said Scott McClellan, the president’s chief spokesman for almost three years.

“I think the president should have stood by his word and that meant Karl should have left,” McClellan said Sunday in a broadcast interview about his new tell-all book, a scathing rebuke of the White House under Bush’s leadership. McClellan now acknowledges he felt burned by Rove, Bush’s top political adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff. He said Rove and Libby assured him they were not involved in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, and he repeated those assurances to reporters.

In fact, Rove and Libby did help leak Plame’s identity, as confirmed in a later criminal investigation. Libby had resigned by then, but Rove remained in office and eventually stepped down on his terms in August 2007. More

By Paul Kiel
MUCKRAKER
House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI) forgot to keep his voice down when there are reporters present:

Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: “We’re closing in on Rove. Someone’s got to kick his ass.”

Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn’t, said Conyers, “We’ll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We’d hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested.”

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