home

Former Bush Administration Officials Agree to Depositions

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 09:32:30 PM EST
Tags: U.S. Attorney Friings (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers announced today that the committee has reached an agreement with Karl Rove and Harriet Miers regarding subpoenas in the U.S. Attorney firing investigation. Conyers' press release is here.

According to The Hill, the Obama Administration played a big role in bringing about the agreement.

The Obama White House confirmed that “lawyers from the White House counsel’s office played an active role in moving the parties toward the accommodation,” while Bush’s office said it had reached the deal “at the urging of the Obama administration.”

[More...]

What's in it for Obama?

Obama had every reason to bring the two parties to the table. Without a deal, he would have been in the awkward position of defending Rove’s executive privilege claim as a way to preserve the power of the executive branch and protect his aides from being forced to testify before Congress in the future.

Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, weighs in:

Rove looks forward to addressing the committee's concerns."

“Mr. Rove has consistently maintained that he would not assert any personal privileges to refuse to appear or testify, but was required to follow the direction of the president on matters of executive privilege,” Luskin said.

At issue:

Conyers is interested in knowing what role, if any, Rove played in the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and the government’s prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on public corruption charges.

Luskin advised the committee on Jan. 26th that Bush was only asserting executive privilege on the U.S. Attorneys' firing and Rove was willing to testify about Siegelman.

A federal judge rejected Bush's executive privilege claim. Conyers is pleased the essence of the ruling is reflected in the agreement.

The New York Times gets some key facts wrong:

Under the agreement, Mr. Rove and Ms. Miers will provide depositions and sworn public testimony about the firings, but the scope of their testimony will be limited to the dismissals and closely related issues.

Moreover, the two former Bush officials will not be asked about their conversa