July 25, 2007

House Panel Cites Bolten & Miers For Contempt

UPDATED.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 22-17 to cite two top White House aides -- chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers -- for contempt over their failure to cooperate with the panel's investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.

The citations were approved on a party-line vote, as congressional Democrats stepped up their efforts to confront the White House directly over the prosecutors' dismissals. The decision is Congress' latest challenge to the White House's executive privilege claim, which Bush and his aides have invoked in their refusals to submit documents and provide testimony in the probe.

Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor subject to prison terms of up to one year and fines up to $100; it is considered a serious constitutional charge. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., conceded that the president has power to fire U.S. attorneys, but he added that the issue is "whether any administration can terminate or retain such individuals in order to influence pending criminal investigations or influence an election."

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., proposed the panel hold off on the contempt move and ask the House clerk to file a civil lawsuit to settle the issue of executive privilege. He said he feared the contempt citation case could lose in court and jeopardize future congressional efforts to gather information.

And White House Press Secretary Tony Snow slammed Democrats for what he deemed a waste of time and political theater that distracted lawmakers from working on legislation such as the appropriations bills.

"The question is, 'Why are they doing this rather than the people's business?'" he said.

On the Senate side, however, some Republican lawmakers are ratcheting up their rhetoric against the White House in a sign of Congress' growing frustration with the case. Yesterday, Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., suggested that Congress should proceed with contempt charges against the White House if the administration refused to appoint a special prosecutor to the attorney firings investigation. Specter's comments came during Senate questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

-- The Gate and CongressDaily staff

Posted at 3:14 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Harriet Miers, House, President Bush, Senate
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