House Judiciary Panel Threatens Rove With Contempt Charges

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) threatened to charge former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove with contempt on Thursday after the controversial former presidential aide refused to comply with a subpoena.

The panel is investigating alleged politically-motivated prosecutions by the Bush administration of nine federal attorneys in 2006 and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

Rove was charged by the Senate Judiciary Committee with contempt along with current White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten last year for failing to follow a subpoena about a related inquiry. He is scheduled to testify before the House panel on July 10.

In a letter, Conyers and Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA) said Rove's refusal could subject him to contempt proceedings.

Conyers and Sanchez were responding to a letter from Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, earlier this week that said Rove would not be testifying on the grounds of executive privilege. Luskin also wrote that another House lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court in Washington to enforce subpoenas to Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers prevents Row appearing.

Bolten and Miers both refused to respond to a House subpoena to testify about the same issue.

The first court hearing of the case was held last month, and saw House and administration lawyers bickering before a judge who expressed unwillingness to break precedent and issue a ruling to resolve a dispute between the executive and legislative branches.

In his letter, Luskin repeated his proposal to have Rove answer the Committee's questions but without transcript or oath.

Testimony from earlier Judiciary Committee hearings allegedly say that Rove had planned to neutralize the political threat pose by Siegelman, a Democrat and former secretary of state who was released on appeal bond in March after being imprisoned for nearly a year for corruption charges.