Conyers Threatens To Subpoena Ashcroft, Addington And Yoo

By Patrick O'Connor

(The Politico)  House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) on Monday threatened to subpoena former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a top former Justice Department lawyer and the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney over legal memos justifying the use of harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists.

Conyers sent letters to Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, and lawyers for Ashcroft and John C. Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel who helped draft a controversial memo in 2003 justifying the use of enhanced interrogation methods on suspected terrorists and other enemy combatants.

The Judiciary chairman invited all three to appear before his committee during a May 6 hearing into the so-called "torture memos," but each declined through notes from their lawyers.

In this latest round of letters, Conyers told all three that he "will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process" - presumably a subpoena - to force them to appear before his panel. An accompanying press release announces that the current and former Bush administration officials have until May 2 to respond, but the notification only appears in the letter to Addington.