Top House Democrat: No 'get out of jail free' card for the White House
 After voting to authorize subpoenas of White House officials, a House Democrat who is helping to lead the investigation of the firing of the US Attorneys promised to deny the White House a "get out of jail free" card.
"This Congress respects White House prerogatives as a safeguard for the internal deliberations on the legitimate creation of policy, but they are not a 'get out of jail free' card," said Rep. Linda Sánchez, Chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, in a statement sent to RAW STORY. "There must be accountability."
Sánchez's remark came after her subcommittee voted to authorize the subpoenas of five current and former Bush administration officials involved in the firing of eight US Attorneys.
The motion passed by the subcommittee gives Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) the authority to issue subpoenas at his discretion for Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, William Kelley, Scott Jennings and Kyle Sampson to appear before the Judiciary Committee, and also to subpoena unredacted documents that have not previously been provided by the Bush administration.
Conyers dismissed the White House's offer for unsworn private conversations with the officials in question in an interview with the New York Times.
"We could meet at the local pub to have that kind of gathering," he said.
But Sanchez's Republican counterpart on the subcommittee said that the move was entirely political.
"The only purpose of the subpoenas is to the fan the flames and photo ops of partisan controversy," said Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), according to the Times.
Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) responded to claims like Cannon's in a statement issued by his office.
"The White House says they have nothing to hide, but evidently, they are willing to speak only behind closed doors, but not under oath," he said. "Our goal is to finally get to the truth, but not to create a confrontation."
The full Judiciary Committee statement can be accessed at the Committee's website.
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