December 13, 2007

Senate Panel Holds Rove, Bolten In Contempt

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 today to hold former White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with subpoenas in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings scandal.

"This is not a step I have wanted to take," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. But, he went on: "White House stonewalling is unilateralism at its worst, and it thwarts accountability. Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and abusing it should have remedies and consequences."

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., crossed party lines to vote with the committee's 10 Democrats in favor of the citations, though Specter acknowledged that the vote was "highly likely to be a meaningless act."

Indeed, as The Swamp's James Oliphant points out, "Even if the Senate goes ahead and approves the resolution, you'll want to hold off on printing your FREE KARL ROVE t-shirt." A vote by the full Senate in favor of the citations -- by no means a certainty -- would only refer them to D.C.'s U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Taylor, who previously worked as senior adviser to former AG Alberto Gonzales.

"The constitutional prerogative of the president would make it a futile effort for Congress to refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys," White House press secretary Dana Perino said today. The House Judiciary Committee found Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt earlier this year.

The New York Times and The Hill have more on this story. See Leahy's statement, with the full text of the citations, here.

Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Karl Rove, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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