Congress defies president, authorizes subpoenas for White House insiders

The House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law voted Wednesday to issue subpoenas compelling Karl Rove and other key aides to President George Bush to testify about their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

President Bush has vowed to fight any effort to compel his aides to testify.

Instead, the president has offered to let Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and others speak with House committee members in private, off the record. The White House aides would not be sworn under oath and no transcript could be kept.

President Bush says this would satisfy any need for more information, and that having his staff members testify in public and under oath, for the record, would only serve to fuel a political witch hunt.

Its a tactic that has served the White House well. Attack the motives of anyone who gets in their way, anyone who questions what they want to do. Anyone who asks too many uncomfortable questions.

But the president may have finally gone too far. Americans arent stupid. And most believe the only reason someone would refuse to testify under oath, for the record, is if they had something to hide.

And if their boss tries to shield them from this very basic step in the investigative process, then there must be something he doesnt want made public.

In other words, the president is inviting charges of a cover-up.

Here is what the people know so far. We know that eight federal prosecutors were fired midway through President Bushs second term, something that is highly unusual. We know that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has offered several conflicting explanations as to the reason why, finally admitting mistakes were made. We know that the attorney general, under a provision of the Patriot Act a provision that Congress repealed last week in the wake of the firings scandal would have been able to replace these prosecutors with interim appointees not subject to Senate confirmation, thereby circumventing any congressional oversight. We know that Rove and others had at least some input into the firings.

We dont know why these prosecutors were fired. It has been alleged they were given the boot because they refused to engage in baseless prosecutions of Democrats who were thorns in the side of the administration and its friends in Congress.

But thats just speculation. Nothing has been proven, one way or the other.

And we dont know the extent or the reasons of the White Houses involvement.

Was there anything improper in the firings of the eight prosecutors? Was there any improper conduct within the Justice Department regarding investigations of the administrations political foes? Was the White House involved in any misconduct relating to these issues? Are these allegations nothing but political smoke and mirrors?

We dont know. And we wont know without an investigation. Thats where congressional hearings come in to determine if there is any basis for further investigation.

But the White House is not above the law and the president does not have license to do whatever he wants. There is a reason for separation of powers, for checks and balances. That reason is accountability to the American people. And it is certainly reasonable for congressional investigators to demand that accountability by requiring testimony under oath, on the record, from White House aides.