WASHINGTON – 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. Rove had been scheduled to appear at the House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Thursday morning. A placard with his name sat in front of an empty chair at the witness table, with a handful of protesters behind it calling for Rove to be arrested.
A decision on whether to pursue contempt charges now goes to the full Judiciary Committee and ultimately to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. House Republicans called Thursday’s proceedings a political stunt and said if Democrats truly wanted information they would take Rove up on an offer he made to discuss the matter informally. The House already has voted to hold two of President Bush’s confidants in contempt for failing to cooperate with its inquiry into whether the administration fired nine federal prosecutors in 2006 for political reasons.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for Pelosi to do anything useful.
Don’t get your knowledge from wikipedia. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch. Police officers work for the executive branch(you know ‘law and order’).
Mike, I did some more research and yes, you are right. Federal officers do work through the Executive branch, although these officers can only operate on laws passed by the legislature and administered through the Judicial Branch.
Which means the system is doubly broken.
To get Rove arrested, the Judiciary will have to rule if he has Executive privilege. As noted above, it is extremely unlikely to get even this far.
Next, even if the Judiciary does determine that Rove is not under Executive privilege, the Legislature will have to have a majority vote to put out an arrest warrant. Unlikely at best.
Then, he would have to actually be arrested and tried. Uncertain outcome.
Furthermore, it won’t even get this far because he will get a pardon.
This makes my head spin. If you’re smokin’ something, can I have some??
Testifying before Congress has been a joke since the 1950s and McCarthy.
It’s a misdemeanor to not appear and if I were ever summoned, I sure as fudgepackers wouldn’t.
Half the homunculi on this blog don’t actually think for themselves and enjoy devolving events down to partisan politics like usual, which affirms the whole point of not testifying before Congress (weee! stupid parisan games! Zzzz).
Look, Mason, the reason that the founders (9-12 of whom were Masons) gave the Legislature the power to investigate the other branches was two fold; 1) so that they could be sure that the laws they passed were being properly enacted and followed by the government and 2) so that they could understand the general situation well enough to craft new laws. That’s the whole reason that they have subpoena power, and that’s the whole reason that they can convene a jury of themselves and toss people out of government (impeachment). If they no longer have this power, especially with the Pres claiming that he can write law with signing statements then we effectively have no legislature, and you know what that is called?
Monarchy.
Frankly, all of you America haters that want Monarchy and dictatorship should flee to someplace more akin to your tastes, like Burma, rather than trying to twist free America into your vision of ideal government.
I can only hope that Obama is elected so that these fools come to understand that the legislature doing their basic duties isn’t some sort of ‘partisan game’.
These conservatives claim to be the highest of patriots but they absolutely despise the constitution and will do ANYTHING to avoid paying for the government services they greedily use.
Thank God America’s failed experiment with conservatism seems to be over.