The NYT: "It's subpoena time" - but only if they're enforced

as i posted the other day, i don't want to see any more wishy-washy behavior on this from congress... there's still a subpoena floating around out there with condi's name on it that she is completely ignoring... if subpoenas are going to be issued, it's time to put teeth in it, and, if that provokes the long-awaited constitutional crisis, by all means, let's get on with it...

For months, senators have listened to a parade of well-coached Justice Department witnesses claiming to know nothing about how nine prosecutors were chosen for firing. This week, it was the turn of Bradley Schlozman, a former federal attorney in Missouri, to be uninformative and not credible. It is time for Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to deliver subpoenas that have been approved for Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and their top aides, and to make them testify in public and under oath.

[...]

If Congress is going to get to the bottom of the scandal, it has to get the testimony of Mr. Rove, his aides Scott Jennings and Sara Taylor, Ms. Miers and her deputy, William Kelley.

[...]

This noncooperation has gone on long enough. Mr. Leahy should deliver the subpoenas for the five White House officials and make clear that if the administration resists, Congress will use all available means to get the information it needs.

hey, i'm all for it... but congress had better reach down deep inside and find the guts to go through with it to the end and call this lawless administration into account... and, as for no oath and no transcript, not only no, but HELL NO...!

The White House has offered to make them available only if they do not take an oath and there is no transcript. Those conditions are a formula for condoning perjury, and they are unacceptable.

TOTALLY unacceptable...

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Sampson on firing Fitzgerald: "They just looked at me like I had said something totally inappropriate"

the fact that this man could have made a suggestion like this, even in jest, tells me more about what a clueless son-of-a-bitch he is than anything else possibly could...

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, witness D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, admitted that he had suggested removing Patrick Fitzgerald from his position as a US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois while Fitzgerald was still working as the Special Prosecutor in the case involving former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

In an exchange with Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Senator asked if he had ever recommended the removal of Fitzgerald from office.

"In one meeting, I raised Patrick Fitzgerald, and immediately after I did it, I regretted it, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, it was inappropriate, and [Harriet] Miers and [Bill] Kelly said nothing, they just looked at me.

Durbin then asked how they reacted.

"They just looked at me like I had said something totally inappropriate," he explained.

unbelievable... or, should i say, un-friggingly-believable...

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Subpoena time

heh-heh...

According to a release, "The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (CAL) will meet TOMORROW, March 21st at 10:15 am in 2141 Rayburn House Office Building to consider subpoenas for Kyle Sampson, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, William Kelley, and Scott Jennings, as well as White House and Justice Department documents, which have not been provided to date."

glad to see they're not letting any grass grow under their feet... i'm assuming that conyers is proceeding with this because he knows he has enough votes to authorize the subpoenas being issued... then we wait to see the white house response, which will undoubtedly be less than accommodating...

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Leahy wants a constitutional crisis

and so do i... it's long overdue...

The Democratic senator leading the inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors insisted Sunday that Karl Rove and other top aides to President Bush must testify publicly and under oath, setting up a confrontation between Congress and the White House, which has said it is unlikely to agree to such a demand.

Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, is among the officials who may be subpoenaed to testify publicly and under oath.

Some Republicans have suggested that Mr. Rove testify privately, if only to tamp down the political uproar over the inquiry, which centers on whether the White House allowed politics to interfere with law enforcement.

But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, seemed to rule out such a move on Sunday. He said his committee would vote Thursday on whether to issue subpoenas for Mr. Rove as well as Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and William K. Kelley, the deputy White House counsel.

absolutely... publicly... under oath...

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