Senate panel okays subpoenas in US attorney probe; Sen. Leahy says may subpoena Rove
 Justice Department officials are due to receive subpoenas to answer questions about the growing US attorney dismissal scandal, however, a Senate committee postponed a vote until next week to decide whether top White House advisers such as Karl Rove will also be compelled to testify on the matter.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday cleared the way for subpoenas compelling five Justice Department officials and six of the U.S. attorneys they fired to tell the story of the purge that has prompted demands for the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales," the Associated Press reports. "The voice vote to authorize the panel to issue subpoenas amounts to insurance against the possibility that Gonzales could retract his permission to let the aides testify voluntarily, or impose strict conditions."
"The committee also postponed for a week a vote on whether to authorize subpoenas of top aides to President Bush who were involved in the eight firings, including political adviser Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and deputy White House Counsel William K. Kelley," Laurie Kellman reports for the AP.
Powerful Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said he will issue a subpoena to presidential adviser Karl Rove if he doesn't agree to appear first, reports CNN. "He can appear voluntarily if he wants," Leahy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "If he doesn't, I will subpoena him."
The Vermont senator also told embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who mulled whether to allow "some staff people or lower level people" to testify, that it wasn't his decision. "It's mine and the committee's," Leahy said, per CNN.
Crooks & Liars has video of Leahy's subpoena discussion on CNN at this link.
Excerpts from AP article:
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The committee approved subpoena power over key Justice Department officials involved in the firings: Michael Elston, Kyle Sampson, Monica Goodling, Bill Mercer and Mike Battle.
Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff, quit this week. Elston is staff chief to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and Mercer is associate attorney general. Goodling is Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison, and Battle is the departing director of the office that oversees all 93 U.S. attorneys.
Gonzales has said he would allow the aides still at the Justice Department to testify voluntarily. It was unclear whether Sampson would agree to tell his story without a subpoena.
The panel also approved subpoena power for six of the eight U.S. attorneys fired since December. The six, all of whom testified last week under oath before the House Committee, are: Carol Lam of California, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, Paul Charlton of Arizona, John McKay of Washington state, Daniel Bogden of Nevada, David Iglesias of New Mexico.
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FULL AP ARTICLE AT THIS LINK
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