More Subpoenas In Fired Prosecutors Probe

Source: Former White House Officials Harriet Miers And Sara Taylor Will Reportedly Be Called To Testify

(CBS/AP)  Two congressional committees are issuing subpoenas for testimony from former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor on their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors, according to two officials familiar with the investigation.

Democrats probing whether the White House improperly dictated which prosecutors the Justice Department should fire also are subpoenaing the White House for all relevant documents, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been formally made public.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's subpoena for Taylor compels her to testify on July 11, while the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena for Miers compels her testimony the next day.

"We'll review them and respond appropriately," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

The White House has repeatedly refused to make current and former officials involved in the firings available except in private interviews, without transcripts. Congressional investigators have refused that offer.

"The committees can easily obtain the facts they want without confrontation by simply accepting our offer for documents and interviews." Perino said. "It's clear Senator Leahy and Representative Conyers are more interested in drama than facts."

Asked if the White House will invoke executive privilege, Perino said, "There are many different ways to assert privilege and executive privilege is only one of them."

The subpoenas come a day after newly-released Justice Department documents revealed that Taylor was closely involved in the firings. In a Feb. 16 e-mail, Taylor described a U.S. attorney in Arkansas who was fired last year as "lazy" — "which is why we got rid of him in the first place," according to the documents.

Former prosecutor Bud Cummins, reached Tuesday night for comment, responded: "I'm sure I have some faults, but my work ethic hasn't been one them." Taylor also complained that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told senators that Cummins was replaced at the urging of Miers, who was White House counsel at the time.

It's the first time during the five-month investigation that Congress is compelling testimony from White House insiders over the firings. Not yet on the subpoena list is President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, but only because Democrats have not yet finished interviewing those below him, the officials said.

Democrats say the firings are evidence that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales allowed his traditionally independent federal law enforcement agency to be run, in effect, by the White House.

Republicans point out that U.S. attorneys serve at the president's pleasure and can be fired for any reason, or none at all. Former and current top Justice Department officials have said the list of the eight fired was drawn up on the advice of several senior officials. E-mails made public have shown that Miers, Taylor and Rove were looped into the decision-making process and attended meetings on the firings.

[jedi08]

Its not wonder the Dems have the lowest approval ratting in the last ten years for congress. ALl they do is hold BS witch hunts trying to make Republicans look bad instead of actually getting anything accomplished. Nancy is a disgrace!

[roach9703]

Do you think these dogs might bite a leg?

[tejasdemo]

Go get 'em Dems ! Go ! Go ! Go ! Make these republicans sweat. Make 'em spend the money they just raped the public out of to try and keep their asse s out of jail. They deserve it !

[infidel_us]

Dems, please keep it up. You are all but ensuring your demise in 2008!

[harp1963]

When are they going to subpoena Paul O'Neil, former Sec. of State under Bush, who was shoved out for disagreeing on tax cuts for the top 1%? O'Neil is a life long Republican, served other Republican administrations, is know for his honesty and integrity, and took Alcoa to record profits as their CEO. Let get Paul's thoughts about Iraq and other things on record in Congress and impeech Bush.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[wdrussell1]

Oh, let the subpoenas fall like rain.

[donbl1]

Very disappointing performance by the Dems.

This is exactly what got them into trouble in the early 90's

[harp1963]

You know what is the funniest George Bush Harriet Miers thing? Bush was going to appoint her to the Supreme Court of the United States of America and she has never, not once, ever, been a judge. George was going to put her on the highest court in the land because he "knew her heart." That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Appointing someone with absolutely no experience or qualifications as a judge to the highest court in the land, how ridiculous.

[perception5]

And the "politcal lynchings" continue in our 110th DO-NOTHING DEMOCRAT CONGRESS.

Which is probably why in today's new Quinnipiac poll only 23% of Americans approve of their job performance, Dems Congress

..............and worst than that only 19% of Independents approve of this Democrat Congress.

FYI................ Independents will decide who goes to Congress and who our new President will be in 2008.

Looks like our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack press will have a job "propping" up their pals, the Dems with more anti-GOP propaganda............................stay tuned.

[smirk5]

What's the big deal? No law was broken. So the U.S. Attorney General has been shown to either be a huge liar or completely inept in the memory dept. Why should citizens care about that?

[gkc99]

Look at the brain-damaged labdog look of Miers. This is the woman that Bushit tried to appoint to the highest court in the land.

Come to think of it, that's the kind of lackey that Bushit wants--brain-damaged lap dogs.

[dblbar]

You know what is the funniest George Bush Harriet Miers thing? Bush was going to appoint her to the Supreme Court of the United States of America and she has never, not once, ever, been a judge. George was going to put her on the highest court in the land because he "knew her heart." That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Appointing someone with absolutely no experience or qualifications as a judge to the highest court in the land, how ridiculous.
Posted by harp1963 at 11:42 AM : Jun 13, 2007


Well.....he appointed Brown as head of FEMA and he was a horse show judge......onehelluva resume behind him on that one, to run FEMA......but what do we expect...he's appointing all of his cronies......because he's the DECIDER.....
+

[perception5]

What's the big deal? No law was broken. So the U.S. Attorney General has been shown to either be a huge liar or completely inept in the memory dept. Why should citizens care about that?
Posted by Smirk5 at 12:04 PM : Jun 13, 2007

.........Yeah the "mother of all liars, Bill Clinton" is a HERO for the Democrats and their close corrupt pals in our liberal MSM wolfpack

And that's a FACT ....... a sad FACT at that.

[muzzlebush]

This seems like a total waste of time on the part of Congress.

What makes them think that any member of Bushco will actually come to Capitol Hill and tell the truth about anything?

[smirk5]

perception5,

Did you know that zero American soldiers died in Bill Clinton's Kosovo action?

I bet you're proud of that. Sure Clinton is a liar. I just thought that Republicans thought that lying was wrong. You guys said it was wrong back in the 90s but now you just say "Bill Clinton did it, so there". A better way to show your disdain for Clinton's lying would be to continue to be against lying.

[clestes-2009]

I knew this was going to get messy. Jesus, what hasn't the Bush administration messed up.

It is appalling the depths these clowns were willing to sink to, just to accomplish their agenda. No law left unbroken. The govn has been reduced to shambles. Everywhere nothing but disarray and lies upon lies. Once the big ball of string lies and coverups started to unravel, the whole ball is unraveling.

There will be nothing left of Bush admin except lies and deceit. Oh, I forget. The 2 extreme right wing judges that will no doubt be a thorn in the side.

What a great legacy. Lies, broken laws, death, destruction, and right wing judges.

[bareemperor]

US Citizens care.

Traitors do not...

[smirk5]

Bush thinks most Americans are traitors. He said withdrawal is surrender. Most Americans support withdrawal. When polled last year, most of the troops wanted to be out of Iraq by the end of 2006. They support withdrawal too. Bush doesn't support the troops.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075

[jasonmcj]

Note to clueless GOP apologists:

Typing FACT in captial letters doesn't make it true, no matter how long you hold your breath and no matter hoe much Rush Limbuagh tells you so.

Oh,. ad I had to laugh at this one. A clear indication of right-wingnutism --- "liberal MSM wolfpack"

LOL, sorry if REALITY has a liberal bias, Cons.

[infidel_us]

Congress' approval rating: 27% and FALLING! Way to go, Dems! :)

[wdrussell1]

Over a thousand subpoenas were issued against the Clinton administration.
So do we have two wrongs or two rights.
It is one or the other.

[drummer94]

George's house just gets more and more f@cked-up, don't it?

[jasonmcj]

"Congress' approval rating: 27% and FALLING! Way to go, Dems! :) "


WRONG!, wanna try again, citing a poll as proof? It's more like 37%, much more than Bush and more than the old Congres, (who had complete power, by the way)

Congress' approval rating: 27% and FALLING! Way to go, Dems! :)

[infidel_us]

"LOL, sorry if REALITY has a liberal bias"

You poor pathetic rube.....some people are just blindfolded on the inside. You're a good sheep. Keep being a dailykoz subscribr.

Hey, better hurry......Oprah is almost on!

[jasonmcj]

Since you don't know me...your ignorance and insults makes me feel good you are on the other side, where no intellegent debate exists.

Apparently reality touched a nerve with you, so you choose to live in LaLaLand.

"You poor pathetic rube.....some people are just blindfolded on the inside. You're a good sheep. Keep being a dailykoz subscribr.

Hey, better hurry......Oprah is almost on!

Posted by infidel_us at 12:33 PM : Jun 13, 2007"



Good day!

[infidel_us]

It's more like 37%

No, it's more like you're a big, gaping, bedwetting democrat (_o_)......go look it up. It was just published Monday.

Why do you think it's not on CBS' site?

[infidel_us]

http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

This is for the moron JasonMcJ - LA Times......read it and weep, you loser!

[jasonmcj]

Sorry, it is 39% We can agree to disagree, I don't care. This is not the issue.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/061207op.htm

[pwrslm]

So what are they wasting our tax dollar for on this? They should be enforcing immigration laws and making the country safer, instead of playing politics at our expense.

If the President wants to fire every democrat attorney in the Justice Department, he has the legal authority to do so.

Bill Clinton fired 93 attorneys, at one time, and replaced them with attorneys that would be freindly to his agenda. It wasnt illegal. The only think going on here, that is fringing illegal activity, is the Congress wasting tax dollars.

[jasonmcj]

"Read it and weep, loser"?


Thank you for supporting my long standing claim that you people really do operate with a 12-year-olds mentality. Ah, and of course it is infidel_us the bigot, who is constanly proven wrong on these VERY forums on a regular basis.

LA Times? Please... try something credible.

[mudrose-2009]

LA Times? Please... try something credible.
Posted by JasonMcJ

It's amazing how the lefties work isn't it. You gave them the facts but they refuse to accept it. They stare at it in black and white and still call it a bald face lie. Almost like the Clintons. Remember - "they lie with ease it's unsettling....

[tejasdemo]

It's amazing how the lefties work isn't it. You gave them the facts but they refuse to accept it. They stare at it in black and white and still call it a bald face lie. Almost like the Clintons. Remember - "they lie with ease it's unsettling....
Posted by mudrose at 12:57 PM : Jun 13, 2007


By facts do you mean like, say, evolution ?

Lol

[meb955]

So what are they wasting our tax dollar for on this? If the President wants to fire every democrat attorney in the Justice Department, he has the legal authority to do so. Bill Clinton fired 93 attorneys, at one time, and replaced them with attorneys that would be freindly to his agenda. It wasnt illegal. The only think going on here, that is fringing illegal activity, is the Congress wasting tax dollars.
Posted by pwrslm at 12:48 PM : Jun 13, 2007

it's ignorance like this masquerading as intelligent conservative discourse that makes it difficult to be a republican now. let me try it again, for the sake of the children like pwrslm who apparently don't read and don't want to remember --

the attorneies fired by gonzales were REPUBLICANS, not democrats, and many of them very good ones, too. bush FIRED the democrats when he took office -- as did reagan, and clinton, and nixon, etc. it's called cleaning house, with a new party taking over. gonzales' actions were unprecidented. it also made clear that u.s. attorneys -- very powerful people -- were to be no more than political extensions of the white house. that also was unprecidented.

and the republicans wasted far more money on far less weighty issues when the clinton administration was harrassed and perpetually investigated (remember dan burton? the travel office "scandal"?), with little accomplished.

what's good for the goose, as the saying goes...

[infidel_us]

parrot2,

The only president ever impeached strictly on grounds of personal malfeasance

Most Cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation

Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33

Number of congressional witnesses who have pled the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122 (9/99)

Problem areas listed in a memo by Clinton's own lawyer in preparation for the president's defense: 40

Number of witnesses and critics of Clinton subjected to IRS audit: 45

Number of names placed in a White House secret database without the knowledge of those named: c. 200,000

Number of men involved in the Clinton scandals who have been beaten up or claimed to have been intimidated: 9

Number of times Hillary Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in a statement to a House investigating committee: 50

Number of times Bill Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in the released portions of the his testimony on Paula Jones: 271

Number of campaign contributors who got overnights at the White House in the two years before the 1996 election: 577

So yeah, I'd say they were doing their job. :)

[mudrose-2009]

By facts do you mean like, say, evolution ?

Lol
Posted by tejasdemo

Yeah, Yeah, I know you lefties are still evolving. Facts are facts, now. Evolving into what remains to be seen, but yup those facts about evolution is definitely a leftie position and I'm all for ya going for those facts.

[meb955]

Remember - "they lie with ease it's unsettling....
Posted by mudrose at 12:57 PM : Jun 13, 2007

do you mean the bush administration claim of vandalism of white house equipment by clintonites when they took office? you know, a lie repeated endlessly at the start of this "restore honor" administration with nothing at all to back it up? that was certainly a great start (almost the first day) to lying with ease, right?

[sunderan]

Why can't the White House be honest? Is it a problem to be honest? I thought that GWB was going to clean the WH and run a open government?
We are no better than the Russians during the time before Gorbachev. WE are now acting like N. Korea - unashamed to be ashamed of the 'lying', and conjuring up stories about everything except open honest government. No wonder the world hates us now. The USA was always above criticism, but we are now the shame of the human race.

[mcvet]

It's amazing how the lefties work isn't it. You gave them the facts but they refuse to accept it. They stare at it in black and white and still call it a bald face lie. Almost like the Clintons. Remember - "they lie with ease it's unsettling....
Posted by mudrose at 12:57 PM : Jun 13, 2007

Well explain it to us Swastika Breath!! Why all the LIES and why the firing of REPUBLICAN Attorneys? No one in the Gestapo, the Reich or the Fuhrer himself can give a straight answer. Sieg Heil Bush!!

[tejasdemo]

By facts do you mean like, say, evolution ?

Lol
Posted by tejasdemo

Yeah, Yeah, I know you lefties are still evolving. Facts are facts, now. Evolving into what remains to be seen, but yup those facts about evolution is definitely a leftie position and I'm all for ya going for those facts.
Posted by mudrose at 01:08 PM : Jun 13, 2007


Lol. That didnt make much sense to me but what I guess you are essentially saying is that evolving (progressing ) is a bad thing and that staying the same and not learning (progressing) is a bad thing. You sure you wanna stick with that one ?

[infidel_us]

mudrose,

They aren't worth the time and effort. I don't know when I'll ever learn that. Maybe I'll start now.

[mudrose-2009]

do you mean the bush administration claim of vandalism of white house equipment by clintonites when they took office? you know, a lie repeated endlessly at the start of this "restore honor" administration with nothing at all to back it up? that was certainly a great start (almost the first day) to lying with ease, right?
Posted by meb955

Okay, wanna play. How about the bastardo Clinton who stood in front of the nation and boldly pointed his finger toward everyone's TV screen and said "I did not have *** with that woman". Oh, and how about the affidavit he concocted for Monica's signature. Ya know, these bold fact lies. Does that work for you?

[mcvet]

Bill Clinton fired 93 attorneys, at one time, and replaced them with attorneys that would be freindly to his agenda. It wasnt illegal. The only think going on here, that is fringing illegal activity, is the Congress wasting tax dollars.
Posted by pwrslm at 12:48 PM : Jun 13, 2007
+ report abuse

A better question is why are you wasting everyone's time repeating Nazi talking points that have long since been trashed as LIES! Now go back and READ for yourself the ISSUE here. REPUBLICAN Attorneys came to the DEMOCRATS saying they were unfairly dealt with by the Fascist White House and the Fuhrer!! God but you Nazi's are stupid!! Sieg Heil Bush!!

[tejasdemo]

oops...meant to say mud is you are saying that progressing is a bad thing and not progressing is good thing.

Sorry

[mudrose-2009]

oops...meant to say mud is you are saying that progressing is a bad thing and not progressing is good thing.

Sorry
Posted by tejasdemo

Okay, if that's what you think I is saying.

[bogusbones]

This rhetoric or "you did this" "he did that" is tiring and boring. If someone has done something wrong/shamefully abused power/broke the law of the land, let them answer to the charges.

This 23% approval of the Democratic Congress is hogwash. Everything Congress tries to do, this overbearing and mis directed administration rejects, with unwavering support from the Repulican minority.

If these prosecutors were fired for political reasons (Rove) then let's ask questions why.

I beg that we come together for the good of the country. A middle of the road approach to making America a better place to live.

It begins with getting out of the Middle East.

[mudrose-2009]

mudrose,

They aren't worth the time and effort. I don't know when I'll ever learn that. Maybe I'll start now.
Posted by infidel_us

Nah, don't despair. It's like they just can't help themselves. Seems we can't either. Enjoy the laughs though, some of these posts are outrageously funny.

[jeanneke-2009]

If our cowardly Government officials--who, by the way still work for us--would put forth a vote of no confidence from the Little Georgie down to Rice--perhaps we can get people in the White House who know who the real Americans are. This bunch thinks we're all idiots.
The long Iraq war and number of illegals have finally aroused the majority of Americans to where the legislators better do something in the best interest of the voters--or Washington will have a "new look" come elections.

[meb955]

Okay, wanna play. How about the bastardo Clinton who stood in front of the nation and boldly pointed his finger toward everyone's TV screen and said "I did not have *** with that woman". Oh, and how about the affidavit he concocted for Monica's signature. Ya know, these bold fact lies. Does that work for you?
Posted by mudrose at 01:14 PM : Jun 13, 2007

nice try to muddy the playground, but i wasn't playing, i was trying to see what your limits were. apparently, none. i don't defend clinton as such, but i won't sit by and watch a hack pretend all is glory on one side and evil on the other. yes, clinton and the first lady lied (or at best stretched technicalities), but so has the current office holder.

i prefer to call them out both ways -- i slammed clinton and praised him based on what happened, and have done the same for the current prez. what i have no respect for are the hacks who toe the party line at the sacrifice of intelligence and honesty (like the eternal "clinton did it too" defense). if that doesn't fit you, you have my apologies. your statement, however, certainly led me in that direction.

[tejasdemo]

mudrose,

They aren't worth the time and effort. I don't know when I'll ever learn that. Maybe I'll start now.
Posted by infidel_us at 01:13 PM : Jun 13, 2007


Cool, then maybe you'll stop wasting our time with your high school insults, and pathetic arguments and relegate them to the Rush show.

Thanks

[perception5]

This 23% approval of the Democratic Congress is hogwash. Everything Congress tries to do, this overbearing and mis directed administration rejects, with unwavering support from the Repulican minority
Posted by bogusbones at 01:21 PM : Jun 13, 2007

.......bogusbones, now you know how the GOP controlled Congress have felt since 2000.
The only thing the Dems have in their favor is the FACT that our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack HIDES this information from the public as much as there corrupt libs can.........

Welcome to America's "free left-wing press"

p.s Harry Reids approval rating is at 19% ......isn't he up for re-election in 2008?