Senate committee subpoenas Gonzales for Rove emails News
Senate committee subpoenas Gonzales for Rove emails

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] issued a subpoena [PDF text; press release] to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] Wednesday, demanding that he turn over any e-mails he received from White House political adviser Karl Rove [official profile] relating to the US Attorney firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. A White House spokesman accused the Committee of trying to create a media event and suggested that it should instead accept a White House offer [PDF text; JURIST report] to interview Rove in a private questioning session, not under oath. Gonzales has insisted that there was nothing improper [JURIST report] about the US Attorney firings.

A series of emails released by the Department of Justice in March revealed that Rove originally suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys [JURIST report] in January 2005, contradicting earlier assertions by the White House that the idea first came from former White House counsel Harriet Miers. The same month, the Senate Judiciary Committee panel subpoenaed [JURIST report] Rove, Miers, and former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson, rejecting Bush's interview offer. The House Judiciary Committee panel later subpoenaed Rove, Miers, and several aides [JURIST report] to testify in a concurrent investigation. Reuters has more.