The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify on the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, and was supposed to appear this morning. Not surprisingly, the man the president affectionately calls “Turd Blossom” didn’t show up.
It’s probably worth taking a moment to consider the White House’s explanation for blowing off a congressional subpoena. Dan Froomkin explains:
The presidential aide who acts with such impunity now has the ultimate protection: absolute immunity from congressional oversight, at least in the judgment of White House Counsel Fred Fielding. […]
Fielding’s assertion of executive privilege yesterday to block his testimony was nevertheless surprising in its breadth.
From Fielding’s letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy: “Based upon the advice of the Department of Justice, the President . . . has requested that I advise and inform you that Mr. Rove, as an immediate presidential advisor, is immune from compelled congressional testimony about matters that arose during his tenure and that relate to his official duties in that capacity. Accordingly, Mr. Rove is not required to appear in response to the Judiciary Committee subpoena to testify about such matters, and he has been directed not to appear.”
In other words, Rove can reject any congressional subpoena, on any issue relating to his White House work. He is in an accountability-free role.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy was unimpressed with Fielding’s letter:
“Why is the White House working so hard to hide Karl Rove’s involvement? Karl Rove, who is now refusing to comply with Senate subpoenas, spoke publicly in speeches about these firings when the scandal first broke, but is suddenly unable to talk it about when he is under oath? Mr. Rove has given reasons for the firings that have now been shown to be inaccurate after-the-fact fabrications. Yet, he now refuses to tell this Committee the truth about his role in targeting well-respected U.S. Attorneys for firing and in seeking to cover up his role and that of his staff in the scandal. It is a shame that this White House continues to act as if it is above the law.”
Of course, Rove’s deputy, Scott Jennings, did honor the subpoena and did show up this morning.
I’ll have more on Jennings’ testimony — he repeatedly refused to discuss the U.S. Attorney scandal, citing White House orders — but Paul Kiel notes that Jennings had a few interesting things to say about the Bush gang’s use of private, RNC email accounts.
The White House’s fig leaf for that has been the Hatch Act, which prohibits using government resources for political activities. Staffers in the White House Office of Political Affairs have both a White House address and computer and a RNC email address and devices. And as Jennings testified today, he frequently used his RNC address for official business (including matters related to the U.S. attorney firings) for “convenience and efficiency.” (That’s also what Jennings’ boss Sara Taylor testified. Rove also found using his RNC blackberry incredibly convenient.) In fact, it sounds like he hardly used his White House address, since he carried an RNC-issued blackberry with him. The problem was not lost on Jennings, apparently, who testified, in response to a question from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), that he had actually asked for a blackberry for his White House email once.
It was “very early in my employment,” he testified, “the President was doing a lot traveling in my region [the South]… I was receiving a lot of email on my official account and I requested [a blackberry for White House email] at that moment, and I was told that it wasn’t the custom to give the political affairs staffers those devices.”
So even though Jennings was aware that this was a problem and apparently raised the issue with a supervisor, he was told to ignore it. That doesn’t quite square with the White House explanation for the illegal use of the RNC accounts, which is “oops.”
Once again, it’s not just that the White House lies so casually; it’s that they lie so badly.
