House panel backs probe of Bush aides

The Baltimore Sun

Washington -- A House committee voted yesterday to endorse criminal prosecution of Joshua B. Bolten, President Bush's chief of staff, and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys last year.

The 22-17 party-line vote of the Judiciary Committee calling for contempt-of-Congress proceedings against the two aides was referred to the full House for consideration. That vote is expected to occur after Labor Day when Congress returns from its August recess.

The move escalates a legal and political battle between Congress and the White House and sets the stage for what would be the first congressional contempt citation of an executive branch official since the Reagan administration.

It is far from clear, however, whether those moves would resolve the underlying dispute about access to White House documents and officials that might illuminate the role of Bush administration insiders in the U.S. attorneys affair. Some Democrats suspect that eight prosecutors were fired last year to make way for partisans who would bring cases that would further the interests of the Republican Party.

Lawmakers privately conceded that the White House seemed to be holding the cards; moving a contempt case forward requires the Justice Department to prosecute it, and the White House has said that will not happen. Democrats have begun exploring an alternative: the possibility of launching a civil lawsuit on behalf of the House to get the privilege claims sorted out by a federal judge. But that route is legally untested.

Miers, who was White House counsel in 2005 when the issue of replacing prosecutors was first discussed within the administration, was subpoenaed to testify before the House committee July 12. Bolten was the target of a separate subpoena seeking White House documents about the firings.

Based on the advice of White House Counsel Fred Fielding, both declined to comply with the subpoenas, and Miers did not appear at her scheduled hearing. The White House has said evidence about internal White House deliberations into the firings is covered by the doctrine of executive privilege.

Buttressing their case, Democrats prepared a report yesterday that discussed evidence that the decision to fire or retain some U.S. attorneys might have been based in part on whether "their offices were pursuing or not pursuing public corruption or vote fraud cases based on partisan political factors."

The report also mentioned evidence that Justice Department officials made "false or misleading statements to Congress" and that some department personnel possibly violated civil service laws by injecting political considerations into the hiring of career Justice employees.

Republicans said the contempt proceedings were premature and unproductive and an act of political theater.

"In our view, this is pathetic," White House press secretary Tony Snow said after the committee's contempt vote. "Based on legal precedent, this is something that the drafters of this particular referral know has very little chance of going anywhere. And so the questions is, why are they doing this rather than the people's business?"

Democrats said the refusal of the White House to cooperate in the investigation left them with little choice but to act to defend the right of Congress under the Constitution to serve as a check on executive power.

"If we countenance a process where our subpoenas can be readily ignored, where a witness under a duly authorized subpoena doesn't even have to bother to show up, where privilege can be asserted on the thinnest basis and in the broadest possible manner, then we've already lost," said Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, the chairman of the committee. "We won't be able to get anybody in front of this committee or any other."

It has been 24 years since an administration official has been cited for contempt of Congress. In 1982, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford refused to turn over documents under orders from President Ronald Reagan. The Justice Department refused to prosecute her. A year later, EPA official Rita Lavelle refused to appear before a House committee. Lavelle was acquitted of the contempt charge but was convicted of perjury in a trial.

Criminal contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor punishable by one to 12 months in jail and $100 to $1,000 in fines.

Richard B. Schmitt writes for the Los Angeles Times.

Copyright © 2021, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication | Place an Ad
70°