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

A House panel Tuesday threatened Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey with contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena demanding FBI reports of an interview of Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s covert status. In a letter to Mukasey, Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his committee will take up a contempt resolution July 16. “You have neither complied with this subpoena by its returnable date nor asserted any privilege to justify withholding documents from the committee,” Waxman wrote. Waxman said the committee would no longer seek access to the FBI report on an interview with President Bush as originally sought “in deference to your concerns and in a further attempt at accommodation.” 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

LARA JAKES JORDAN/Ap
Washington Post
The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove as part of its inquiry into whether the Bush administration politically meddled at the Justice Department. Accusations of politics governing decisions at the agency led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The subpoena issued Thursday orders Rove to testify before the House panel on July 10. He is expected to face questions about the White House’s role in firing nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers had negotiated with Rove’s attorneys for more than a year over whether the former top political adviser to President Bush would testify voluntarily.