posted on March 22, 2007 12:11:09 PM new
Senate Panel OKs Subpoenas for Key Aides
Updated 2:28 PM ET March 22, 2007
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate panel, following the House's lead, authorized subpoenas Thursday for White House political adviser Karl Rove and other top aides involved in the firing of federal prosecutors.
The Senate Judiciary Committee decided by voice vote to approve the subpoenas as Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to press a showdown with President Bush over the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys.
Democrats angrily rejected Bush's offer to grant a limited number of lawmakers private interviews with the aides with no transcript and without swearing them in. Republicans counseled restraint, but at least one, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, backed the action.
A House Judiciary subcommittee authorized subpoenas in the matter Wednesday, but none has been issued.
Democrats said the move would give them more bargaining power in negotiating with the White House to hear from Bush's closest advisers.
"We're authorizing that ability but we're not issuing them," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said of the subpoenas. "It'll only strengthen our hand in getting to the bottom of this."
Republicans countered, however, that subpoenas were premature.
"I counsel my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to work hard to avoid an impasse. We don't need a constitutional confrontation," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's top Republican.
The White House gave mixed signals about its willingness to negotiate with Congress on an offer it calls reasonable and generous.
"The phone lines are still open," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.
However, Snow also said flatly of the White House proposal: "We're not negotiating. This is our offer. "
Democrats, however, called Bush's position untenable.
"What we're told we can get is nothing, nothing, nothing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary chairman. "I know he's the decider for the White House _ he's not the decider for the United States Senate."
In a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, Judiciary Committee Democrats said they "cannot accept the limitations and conditions you seek to impose" on the inquiry.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fighting for his job amid the prosecutor furor, vowed he would not step aside and promised to cooperate with Congress in the inquiry.
"I'm not going to resign," Gonzales told reporters after an event in St. Louis.
"No United States Attorney was fired for improper reasons," he added.
Bush is standing by Gonzales, as both Republicans and Democrats question the attorney general's leadership. The president insists that the firings of the prosecutors were appropriate, while Democrats argue they were politically motivated.
The Senate panel voted to approve subpoenas for Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and her former deputy, William Kelley. The House subcommittee Tuesday authorized subpoenas for Rove, Miers and their deputies.
Snow, in an interview on CBS's "The Early Show," accused supporters of subpoenas of wanting "a Perry Mason scene where people are hot-dogging and grandstanding and trying to score political points."
Even as both sides dug in publicly, prominent lawmakers worked behind the scenes to avert a court battle between the executive and legislative branches. Specter said he wanted to find a way for Bush's aides to testify publicly with a transcript _ which he called "indispensable" _ but would not insist on putting them under oath.
He said later he had not spoken with anyone at the White House about such a compromise.
"The dust has to settle first," Specter said.
Snow rejected Specter's proposal later Thursday.
The prosecutors are appointed to four-year terms by the president and serve at his pleasure. meaning they can dismissed at any time.
Democrats object to Bush's offer, which Fielding relayed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, in large part because there would be no transcript and the testimony would not be public.
"Your proposal would unacceptably constrain our ability to investigate; it would deny us access to relevant information; it would interfere with our ability to learn the truth by pre-selecting only certain documents or witnesses; and it would unduly limit the scope of the investigation by prejudging its outcome," Judiciary Committee Democrats told Fielding in their letter.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader, said it would be "outrageous," to allow Rove to testify off the record.
"Anyone who would take that deal isn't playing with a full deck," Reid said.
Leahy and Specter have formally asked Gonzales' former top aide Kyle Sampson _ who has resigned amid the prosecutors furor _ to testify voluntarily next week before the Judiciary panel. The panel approved a subpoena for Sampson last week.
Bradford Berenson, Sampson's lawyer, wrote Leahy and Specter Thursday requesting a delay until April 2 at the earliest, to give his client "more time to review the matter" and to allow Berenson to take a previously scheduled vacation with his family.
The double-barreled House and Senate actions don't guarantee an impasse.
With authorizations in hand, the Democratic chairmen of the Judiciary panels, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Leahy can issue subpoenas at any time. They also could continue to negotiate with the White House, with the threat of subpoenas as a bargaining chip.
Lawmakers know that if they press a clash with the executive branch, they could be facing months or years of legal wrangling before they learn anything about the role of the president's top advisers in the prosecutor firings.
"If we have the confrontation, we're not going to get this information for a very long time," Specter said.
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Associated Press Writer Betsy Taylor in St. Louis contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
