WORLD> America
|
WORLD> America
|
|
Former top Bush aids to testify in prosecutor firings
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-05 16:08 WASHINGTON – Former top Bush aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers agreed Wednesday to testify before Congress under oath about the firings of US attorneys, a controversy involving allegations of political interference that grew into a constitutional standoff between two branches of government.
The Bush White House had fought attempts to force Rove and Miers to testify, and the agreement - steered by aides to President Barack Obama - ended that dispute. Both the White House and lawmakers, especially now that Democrat Obama has replaced Republican George W. Bush - were leery of having a judge settle the question about the limits of executive privilege, for fear of losing. "The agreement calls for Rove and Miers, Bush's top political adviser and White House counsel, to be interviewed by the House Judiciary Committee in closed depositions "under the penalty for perjury," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. The committee says it also might call the two for public testimony. The arrangement ends a lawsuit over whether former White House aides could be forced to testify about matters on which they advised the president. Bush had ordered Rove and Miers not to testify in the US attorneys investigation, and the Judiciary Committee sued a year ago. Last July, US District Judge John Bates rejected Bush's contention that senior White House advisers were immune from the committee's subpoenas, siding with Congress' power to investigate the executive branch. The Bush administration had appealed the decision. Until this dispute, Congress had never gone to court to demand the testimony of White House aides. Bates had suggested that the two sides settle to avoid a ruling that would be binding of future presidents and members of Congress. Justice Department officials said the committee and the Obama administration would make a joint filing to the court asking the judge to stay the lawsuit over the issue. If the agreement is breached, the case could be revived. Bush spokesman Rob Saliterman said Wednesday, "At the urging of the Obama administration, and in consideration of the executive branch interests at stake, we have reached an accommodation with the House Judiciary Committee that satisfies the committee's desire for additional information and will finally put this matter to rest." White House Counsel Greg Craig said the deal came after "a tremendous amount of hard work, patience and flexibility on both sides." "The agreement will allow the committee to complete its investigation into the US attorneys matter, and it will do so in the way such disputes have historically been resolved - through negotiation and accommodation between the legislative and executive branches," Craig said. "The president is pleased that the parties have agreed to resolve this matter amicably." Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said the former White House adviser had always said he was not asserting any personal privilege to refuse to appear but was following the president's direction on executive privilege. |
