Senate committee subpoenas Gonzales for Rove e-mails
 The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee today issued a subpoena compelling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to turn over e-mails written by top White House aide Karl Rove.
The subpoena, signed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), describes the materials it seeks as "complete and unredacted versions of any and all emails and attachments to emails to, from, or copied to Karl Rove related to the Committee’s investigation into the preservation of prosecutorial independence and the Department of Justice’s politicization of the hiring and firing."
The subpoena seeks the e-mails by May 15.
Notably, the subpoena also seeks e-mails "obtained by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the investigation into the leak of the identity of a covert CIA officer by officials in the Administration that led to the conviction of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."
In his letter to Gonzales, Leahy noted that an earlier request had not been fulfilled.
"At the hearing last Thursday and again in a letter dated April 25, 2007, I asked you whether you would provide Karl Rove’s e-mails in the possession of the Justice Department to the Committee without a subpoena," Leahy wrote. "You responded at the hearing that you did not know but would check and get back to me. I have not heard back from you since in response to my question or the letter."
The Vermont Democrat also criticized the Justice Department for failing to comply with other Senate Judiciary Committee requests.
"In document productions and interviews with Department employees, the Department continues to insist on providing information within only a highly limited scope inconsistent with the Committee’s inquiry and over the Committee’s objection," Leahy wrote.
Subsequently, a bipartisan group of Senators, including Leahy and the Committee's ranking minority member Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) wrote a second letter, seeking a copy of the confidential order delegating authority from Gonzales to his subordinates Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling, both of whom have resigned, which was first publicized in the National Journal on Monday by Murray Waas.
"The order appears to be responsive to the Committee’s requests insofar as it dealt with the appointment and removal of inferior officers who are not subject to Senate confirmation, which would include interim and acting U.S. Attorneys. Consequently, we ask that you please produce the order and all related documents immediately," they wrote.
|
