House panels back subpoenas, immunity in separate probes
Democrats press for facts on Iraq, prosecutor firings
WASHINGTON -- Putting their congressional control to work, Democrats approved new subpoenas yesterday -- and a grant of immunity -- for probes ranging from the prosecutor firings and White House political activities to President Bush's justification for the war in Iraq.
Democrats said the broad array of investigations represents a revival of Congress's role after six years of little oversight of the Bush administration by Republican lawmakers.
The White House is pushing back, refusing to allow officials to testify under oath about the firings and arguing that top officials already have answered questions about the administration's now-discredited contention that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for a bomb.
"I am beginning to wonder whether the White House has any interest in the American people learning the truth about these matters," said Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Congress's effort isn't driven solely by Democrats. Republicans have barely restrained their disdain for the answers provided by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales about the firings, including his responses that he could not recall certain details .
Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, co signed a letter with Leahy yesterday urging Gonzales to freshen his memory and provide answers within a week.
Congress was ramping up investigations of the White House on several fronts:
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted, 21 to 10, to issue a subpoena to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to compel her to answer questions about the Bush administration's prewar contentions about Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction.
Next door, the House Judiciary Committee voted, 32 to 6, to grant immunity from prosecution to Monica Goodling, Gonzales's White House liaison, for testimony on why the administration fired eight federal prosecutors. The panel also unanimously approved, but did not issue, a subpoena to compel her to testify. In addition, the committee scheduled a May 10 hearing for Gonzales.
Across Capitol Hill, Leahy's panel approved, but did not issue, a subpoena in the firings matter for Sara Taylor, deputy to Bush political adviser Karl Rove.
The House oversight committee also issued subpoenas for the Republican National Committee for testimony and documents about White House e-mails on RNC accounts, correspondence said to be missing. The RNC released a letter to the panel listing 31 White House officials who have RNC e-mail accounts, including Rove.
Gonzales, meanwhile, was trying to mend fences in his first visit to Capitol Hill since his punishing appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
He met privately with Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat who has contended that Gonzales wasn't truthful with him about the dismissal of the US attorney in Little Rock. The outreach didn't take.
"I reiterated with the attorney general, face to face, that I think he should resign," Pryor told reporters after the meeting. "I think it's the best thing for the Department of Justice, and it's probably the best thing for him personally and the administration."
Lawmakers say they want to force into the open the story of why the eight US attorneys were fired.
Pryor's words on Gonzales were echoed by lawmakers in both parties, though Republicans tended to leave out the actual call for his resignation. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, noted a pragmatic concern: The waning months of the Bush administration complicate prospects for confirming a new attorney general.
"I'll be as vigilant as ever in overseeing the Justice Department and working with other senators, both Republicans and Democrats, for accountability from the attorney general and the department he leads," Grassley said.
On the uranium issue, Rice's allies maintained that she has for years answered Congress's questions under oath, as well as media inquiries, about her knowledge of Bush's contention about Iraq.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, traveling with Rice in Europe for NATO meetings, said department officials would try to answer the committee's questions, but he indicated Rice might not comply with a subpoena. 