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WASHINGTON, D.C. - A House panel cited President George W. Bush's top aide and former counsel for contempt of Congress over their refusal to cooperate with an investigation of the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys.
The Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee, on a 22-17 party-line vote, approved citations against Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff, and former counsel Harriet Miers. Bolten refused to turn over documents related to the dismissals, and Miers disobeyed a subpoena to appear before the panel and answer questions about her role in the firings.
The issuance of contempt citations, which also requires approval by the full House of Representatives, would escalate the dispute between Bush and Congress over the president's assertion of executive privilege to forbid testimony by his aides. The House likely won't take the matter up until after its August recess.
``This is not a confrontation we have sought and is one we are still hoping to avoid,'' said Michigan Democrat John Conyers, the panel's chairman. He said the White House made a ``take-it- or-leave-it offer which would not allow us access to the information we need. This is the only proposal we have received.''
Yesterday, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales endured bipartisan attacks on his candor, competence and responsibility for alleged low employee morale at the Justice Department.
`Loyal Bushies'
House and Senate committees are investigating last year's firings, which followed a two-year evaluation of U.S. attorneys. Congress is trying to determine whether any of the prosecutors were fired for improper political considerations, such as to spur investigations of alleged vote fraud by Democratic Party activists or allied groups.
According to an e-mail turned over to Congress, Gonzales's former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, referred to keeping U.S. attorneys who were considered ``loyal Bushies.''
Arguing against a contempt citation, Utah Republican Chris Cannon said, ``We don't need to force a constitutional showdown over contempt and executive privilege to know that the White House is not involved in wrongdoing in the firing of U.S. attorneys.''
White House spokesman Tony Snow called today's committee action ``pathetic'' and asked, ``Why are they doing this instead of the people's business?'' Democrats have a ``desire to provoke a confrontation,'' he told reporters.
Refer for Prosecution
Under the contempt of Congress law, the House speaker would refer a case for prosecution to a U.S. attorney, who must submit the matter to a grand jury.
Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez of California, who heads a Judiciary subcommittee conducting the probe of the dismissals, said the Justice Department told her in a letter it would order the U.S. attorney in Washington not to prosecute Miers or Bolten if the full Houses cites them for contempt.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, called the vote ``part of a broader effort by House Democrats to restore our nation's fundamental system of checks and balances.'' She said she hoped the vote ``will help the administration see the light and release the information'' sought by the panel.
The White House has cited a 1984 Justice Department legal opinion that the contempt law doesn't apply to White House advisers when a president has asserted executive privilege.
Wisconsin Republican F. James Sensenbrenner, the Judiciary Committee's former chairman, said today's action is ``a needless escalation of this entire issue.'' He urged Congress to instead file a lawsuit seeking a court judgment that Bush's executive- privilege claim is invalid.
President Reagan
During the 1980s, a judge dismissed such a lawsuit filed by President Ronald Reagan in a dispute over information sought by Congress from the Environmental Protection Agency. The judge said courts should avoid ruling on such constitutional issues before Congress and the president try to work out their differences.
Massachusetts Democrat William Delahunt said Congress must ``assert itself against an administration that has expanded executive power to a point'' that ``has become dangerous to our democracy.''
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, complained yesterday to Gonzales that Bush was trying to prevent Congress from obtaining a court ruling on his executive privilege assertion.
``Do you think constitutional government in the United States can survive if the president has the unilateral authority to reject congressional inquiries'' and bar courts from ruling on his assertion, Specter asked Gonzales.
Specter suggested that a special prosecutor be appointed by the Justice Department to prosecute the contempt cases. If the Bush administration refused to do that, the Senate could convene its own trial of the aides. Under such circumstances, any official found guilty of contempt could be held in a jail until the end of the congressional session.
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