Democrats Push To Subpoena Rove

Senate Democrats are pressing their campaign to have White House political guru Karl Rove, under oath and under the glare of television lights, fielding questions before a congressional committee on the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors.

Subpoenas for Rove and other top White House aides were expected to be authorized Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. A House panel took similar action Wednesday, but held off issuing the subpoenas.

The subpoenas will not be actually be issued Thursday, leaving room for
continued negotiation between the White House and Congress on a possible compromise, reported CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

Facing a potential constitutional showdown, the White House showed no inclination to compromise, saying Mr. Bush would only allow his aides to hold limited private interviews with certain lawmakers without being sworn.

Presidential spokesman Tony Snow threatened Wednesday to rescind that proposal, which he called Mr. Bush's final offer.

"If they issue subpoenas, yes, the offer is withdrawn," Snow said. Democrats "will have rejected the offer."

On Thursday, CBS News' The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith challenged Snow to explain the offer and the extent to which the White House was involved in the attorney firings.

"If anybody's worried about the communication the White House may have made with somebody, they're going to get it," Snow tersely responded. "If they're going to want to get an answer and want to get the facts from somebody, they're going to get it. What they're not going to get is the ability to create a show trial atmosphere."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, one of the two Democratic chairmen of the Judiciary Committee, has flatly denied the White House offer of closed-door testimony.

The dispute over the prosecutors has become the latest clash between Mr. Bush's Republican Party and the newly empowered Democratic majority in Congress. Democrats, who have long accused Republicans of running roughshod over opponents, have portrayed the firings as part of a campaign of intimidation and obstruction by the Bush administration and Republican lawmakers.

CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reported that previous administrations have similar showdowns with the legislative branch and they usually end in compromise, but this time around, both sides appear reluctant to back down from their fighting stance.

Even as both sides dug in publicly, prominent lawmakers worked behind the scenes to avert a court battle between the executive and legislative branches.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's senior Republican, said he was considering backing Democrats' move to authorize subpoenas, but was also working to cut a deal with the White House to avoid having to issue them.

Mr. Bush is standing by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, even as Republicans and Democrats question his leadership. The president insists that the firings of the prosecutors over the past year were appropriate, while Democrats argue they were politically motivated.

Democrats have rejected Mr. Bush's offer — relayed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday by White House counsel Fred Fielding — in large part because there would be no transcript and the testimony would not be public.

Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, said it would be "outrageous," to allow Rove to testify off the record.

"Anyone who would take that deal isn't playing with a full deck," Reid said.

Reid added that Gonzales "is history. He can't survive."

Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the No. 3 House Republican, stopped short of calling for Gonzales' ouster, but said the prosecutors flap and recent revelations about the FBI's rampant misuse of its spying powers are threatening to distract him from his job.

Gonzales "has to evaluate how effectively he can continue to serve as our attorney general," Putnam said. "He is standing in the middle of a tornado, largely of his own making."

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, meanwhile, said Gonzales had lied to him when he said he planned to seek confirmation for a prosecutor named to replace the fired Arkansas U.S. attorney. Pryor already has asked for Gonzales' resignation, as have three Republican lawmakers.

Gonzales has been on the defensive for his handling of the prosecutor firings and a shifting series of explanations that followed. In an apparent attempt to mend fences, he arranged a series of meetings in the coming days with groups of U.S. attorneys around the country, beginning Thursday in St. Louis.

Gonzales will try to explain the firings and actually apologize for how they were handled, reported Plante.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law agreed Wednesday to compel the top White House aides to testify.

"There must be accountability," said subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, a Democrat.

The double-barreled House and Senate actions do not guarantee an impasse, however.

With authorizations in hand, the Democratic chairmen of the Judiciary panels, Sen. Leahy and Rep. John Conyers, can issue subpoenas at any time, but they have not done so yet.

They also could continue to negotiate with the White House, with the threat of subpoenas as a bargaining chip.

Mr. Bush has remained resolute. He said Tuesday he would "absolutely" go to court to protect his aides against being called to Capitol Hill to testify under oath in public. Such testimony would set a harmful precedent on the separation of powers that would damage the institution of the presidency, Mr. Bush said.

The dispute could end up in court — ultimately the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bush also defended Gonzales against demands for his resignation. "I support the attorney general," the president said.