Key House investigator: We'll avoid Attorneys showdown if it's possible
 The Congress member on the House Judiciary Committee who is helping lead the investigation of the Bush administration's firing of United States Attorneys is working to avoid a showdown that will result in subpoenas of top White House officials, RAW STORY has learned.
"Rep. Sánchez and the House Judiciary Committee are carefully proceeding in good faith with the Bush administration to produce relevant documents and witnesses on a voluntary basis, and avoiding a more contentious showdown, if it's possible," a spokesman for Rep. Linda Sánchez said to RAW STORY this afternoon.
Sánchez is the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, which is leading the House Judiciary Committee's investigation.
The subcommittee yesterday authorized House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, to issue subpoenas if the White House and Justice Department refuse to produce five witnesses for sworn testimony: Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, Kyle Sampson, William Kelley, and Scott Jennings. The authorization also covered White House and Justice Department documents sought by the Judiciary Committee.
This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee also authorized the issuance of subpoenas. Earlier today, House Judiciary Committee aides told RAW STORY the two bodies were attempting to coordinate their approaches and "move forward with negotiations together before any subpoenas will actually be issued."
Rep. Sánchez's spokesman said the production of key documents was important, particularly those in which content had been redacted or others that were simply not provided, such as those falling within a 16-day gap in the e-mail record already supplied to the committee's investigators.
The announcement from Rep. Sánchez's office came as White House Press Secretary Tony Snow attempted to sound a more optimistic tone about negotiations between the White House and Democratic investigators in Congress. Yesterday, Snow characterized the deal presented to Congressional investigators by White House Counsel Fred Fielding as "off the table." But today, he was more hopeful.
"I think what the House and Senate have both done is to go through the step of authorizing subpoenas but not issuing them," he said. "I think maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I've noted that there's been sort of a moderation in some of the rhetoric in the last 24 hours."
When a reporter followed up and asked Snow if the White House was open to compromise, he added, "I'm just saying we're not averse to it. It's certainly appropriate."
Snow also seemed eager to acknowledge that Congressional Democrats were not going too far in their requests.
"You've had some very good quotes from Senator Leahy and Representative Conyers that are kind of piquant, but at the same time, you've also had expressions that they don't want to move quickly or rationally[sic], and I think that's right," he explained.
But Snow also seemed to back up from his statement.
"I didn't say we were open to compromise. I said, we opened with a compromise," he explained.
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