Conyers Subpoenas Rove, DOJ to Investigate Questionable Prosecutions?

by Deb Cupples |  From a House Judiciary Committee press release:

"Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued a subpoena to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for testimony about the politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ), including former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's case. Yesterday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, sent a letter to the committee expressing that Rove would not agree to testify voluntarily, per the committee's previous requests.

"'It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests,' Conyers said. 'Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters.'

 

"Separately, Chairman Conyers recently received a letter from DOJ's Office of Professional Responibility (OPR) indicating that the office has opened an investigation into allegations of selective prosecution of Siegelman and others."

I suppose it's a start, but given Attorney General Mukasey's extreme friendliness toward the Bush Administration -- and the Justice Department's questionable history of handling Administration-unfriendly investigations -- I'm not expecting great results.

The Office of Special Counsel was already investigating the questionable Siegelman prosecution last year and quietly stopped.

Below are links to relevant documents from the House Judiciary Committee, and Nancy Pelosi's blog also has some of the docs printed out on screen:

Full text of the cover letter sent to Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney;

Full text of the subpoena ;

Full text of the letter received yesterday from Luskin, declining to provide voluntary testimony ;

Letter from OPR regarding new investigation into selective prosecution allegations.

Memeorandum has commentary.

Related Posts:

* Fired U.S. Attorney Scandal Overview

* Special Counsel Stopped Investigation of Siegelman Prosecution

* Siegelman on the Scrushy Donation

* Rove Tied to Dem Governor's Prosecution
.

Comments

[rawdawgbuffalo]

will this nonsense ever end dang already - and have a safe wekend ok

[D. Cupples]

Hey Rawdawg,

You enjoy your weekend, too!