...And Justice For All

True Or False: There Is Precedent Barring White House Aides From Testifying To Congress

Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has called on Karl Rove and other top White House aides to testify under oath in front of Congress concerning their role in the U.S. attorney purge. The White House and its allies have put up a fight, arguing that presidential advisers have historically not testified in front of Congress:

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow: Well, as you know, Ed, it has been traditional in all White Houses not to have staffers testify on Capitol Hill. [3/13/07]

White House Counselor Dan Bartlett: I find it highly unlikely that a member of the White House staff would testify publicly to these matters. [3/13/07]

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): No, I think you’re violating a precedent there that should not be violated. … I believe that under the separation of powers, there are limits to the extent to which Congress can subpoena or demand testimony from those who were closest to the president. [3/15/07]

But in reality, there is no such precedent. According to the Congressional Research Service, under President Clinton, 31 of his top aides testified on 47 different occasions. The aides who testified included some of Clinton’s closest advisors:
Harold Ickes, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff - 7/28/94
George Stephanopoulos, Senior Adviser to the President for Policy and Strategy - 8/4/94
John Podesta, Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary - 8/5/94
Bruce R. Lindsey, Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President - 1/16/96
Samuel Berger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs - 9/11/97
Beth Nolan, Counsel to the President - 5/4/00

In contrast, between 2000 and 2004, President Bush allowed only one of his closest advisers, then-Assistant to the President for Homeland Security Tom Ridge, to appear in front of Congress. He has also refused three invitations from Congress for his aides to testify, a first since President Richard Nixon in 1972. Clinton did not refuse any.

CRS also notes that although “White House aides do not testify before congressional committees in a regular basis…under certain conditions they do. First, intense and escalating political embarrassment may convince the White House that it is in the interest of the President to have these aides testify and ventilate the issue fully. Second, initial White House resistance may give way in the face of concerted congressional and public pressure.”

International:
True Confessions? The Amazing Tale of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Mr. Mohammed personally decapitated “the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan,” he testified. He must have been on an overnight flight from South Korea, where he personally identified targets “such as American military bases and a few night clubs frequented by American soldiers.” Perhaps it was on that flight that he planned the “Shoe Bomber Operation to down two American airplanes.”

The busy Mr. Mohammed planned, financed, surveyed, trained, and followed up the operations to destroy American military vessels and oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz, the Straits of Gibralter, the Port of Singapore, and the Panama Canal. On a side trip to the Philippines, he masterminded the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II.What about the Big One, namely, the crash into the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11? Mr. Mohammed was responsible “from A to Z,” he said. He also was responsible for the earlier attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.This person really got around; you’ve got to give him credit for that. Maybe he had a job as a chef aboard Air Force One; he didn’t say. But he did manage to get all the way to Bali, Indonesia, where he supervised the infamous nightclub bombing that killed many British and Australian nationals. Read more

National:
Conyers, Sanchez to Seek Subpoenas for Rove, Miers
The House Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday that Chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., would seek the authority to subpoena White House adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. More here

Bush Says He Will Oppose Subpoenas of His Staff in Matter of Fired Prosecutors
President Bush said late Tuesday that he will oppose any congressional efforts to subpoena White House staff in the investigation of the firing of eight federal prosecutors, a scandal that has put his administration and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales under scrutiny in the last week. Bush lashed out at a press conference and said:
“We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants. The initial response by Democrats unfortunately shows some appear more interested in scoring political points than in learning the facts. It will be regrettable if they choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials. And I have agreed to make key White House officials and documents available. I proposed a reasonable way to avoid an impasse, and I hope they don’t choose confrontation. I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said, “I don’t accept [the White House’s] offer. It is not constructive and it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation, or to prejudge its outcome. … Testimony should be on the record, and under oath. That’s the formula for true accountability.”

Al Gore Continues to Demand Special Treatment
From behind the scenes on Capitol Hill: Former Vice President Al Gore, despite being given preferential treatment, has violated the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee’s (EPW) hearing rules. Gore first demanded to be granted an unprecedented 30 minute opening statement , then Gore demanded a waiver of the EPW committee’s 48 hour rule that requires all witnesses before EPW to submit their testimony in advance. But in a breaking news development on Capitol Hill -- the former Vice President has violated the new 24 hour deadline extension by failing to submit his testimony – even with the new time extension granted to Gore. As of 8pm ET Tuesday evening, the testimony still has not been received by EPW, a clear violation of committee rules.

In Other News…
McCain backslides on immigration. Despite previously favoring legislation that would allow most illegal immigrants to become citizens without leaving the country, he now says he is "open to legislation that would require people who came to the U.S. illegally to return home before applying for citizenship."

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald "was ranked among prosecutors who had 'not distinguished themselves' on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005, when he was in the midst of leading the CIA leak investigation." The chart "was the first step in an effort to identify U.S. attorneys who should be removed."

The number of roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan last year was 1,525. Suicide "attacks rose by six times -- from 25 two years ago to 150 in 2006."

"Pentagon officials worry that among the just over 20 Army brigades left in the United States or at Army bases in Europe and Asia, none has enough equipment and manpower to be sent quickly into combat, except for an armored unit stationed permanently in South Korea."

Defense spending has reached the highest levels since World War II. "Even with past spending adjusted upward for inflation, the $630 billion provided for the military this year exceeds the highest annual amounts during the Reagan-era defense buildup, the Vietnam War and the Korean War."

From The Right: Cal Thomas: Happy Independence Day Iraq
This may the beginning of the fifth year of this war, but it is only one skirmish in a conflict with a lengthier past and a long future. Pundits, politicians and protestors who want to isolate Iraq from the rest of the world war, of which it is just one part, suffer from tunnel vision.

From The Left: Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the 'global war on terror,' with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and 20,000 private contractors at the ready. Run by a multimillionaire Christian conservative who bankrolls President Bush and his allies, its forces are capable of overthrowing governments. From Iraq to New Orleans, Blackwater has continued to pull in multi-million-dollar government contracts, mostly without accountability and in near-secrecy.

Quote Of The Day: "So yes, I took a trip to Scotland. Yes, I played golf. Yes, it was privately funded. And yes, it was both legal and informative. If I had the opportunity, I would do it again." Tom DeLay, refusing to admit any impropriety in his dealings with fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

(Sources: AFP, TownHall, FOXNews, CenterForAmericanProgress, NYT, TruthOut TPMmuckraker, WashingtonPost, DrudgeReport, Bloomberg, DemocracyNow, ThePolitico, RealCities, WhteHouseWebsie, US Senate, Congressional Research Service, RollCall, About.com, Jurist)