After Downing Street

Former White House Aide’s Revelations Make Out Case for Obstruction of Justice by Rove and Libby in Valerie Plame Case

(Washington, DC) Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding the devastating revelations made in his new book on the Bush Administration’s deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War.

“The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq. Scott McClellan must now appear before the House Judiciary Committee under oath to tell Congress and the American people how President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and White House officials deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.”

“The allegations by this former top White House aide – that Rove and Libby deliberately coordinated their stories in order to obstruct justice in the Plame case, that the President deliberately disregarded contradictory evidence related to Iraq, should outrage every American and Congress must respond by initiating immediate aggressive oversight starting with an appearance by McClellan before the House Judiciary Committee. Any continued obstruction by this Administration to prevent White House officials from appearing before Congress cannot be tolerated by this Congress in the face of these shocking revelations.”

Congressman Wexler has led a nationwide campaign in favor of holding impeachment hearings for Vice-President Dick Cheney. Congressman Wexler is Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Judiciary Committee.

Think Progress:

This morning, the House Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, to compel him to testify about the administration’s interrogation programs. He has said he will agree to testify if subpoenaed. The AP also reports that John Yoo, author of legal memos that sanctioned torture, has reversed course and agreed last night to testify before the committee as well, along with Douglas Feith and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Former CIA Director George Tenet “is still in negotiations with the committee, according to House Judiciary Committee spokeswoman Melanie Roussell.”

Think Progress:

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D), who went to jail in June 2007 on federal corruption charges, “will be released from prison, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted him an appeal bond.” Yesterday, TPMmuckraker reported that the House Judiciary Committee is seeking to hold a hearing where Siegelman will testify about the controversial prosecution that led to his incarceration.

Here’s video from yesterday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective prosecutions, where ex-Gov. Don Siegelman’s (D-AL) was the marquee case:

As TPM reported yesterday, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) made a hard run at Jill Simpson, the Republican lawyer who’s testified that Alabama Republicans often chattered about how the Justice Department and local U.S. attorneys would take Siegelman down. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) rose to her defense, and Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney himself and lawyer for Siegelman, testified that the case took on a new life in 2005 after officials in Washington got involved.

You can see video of former attorney general Dick Thornburgh’s testimony here.

Well, not that there was much mystery about it, but Attorney General Michael Mukasey immediately put any ambiguity to rest when he began his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this morning.

Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) put it to him: since administration officials have disclosed that CIA agents waterboarded three detainees, “are you ready to start a criminal investigation?”

“No, I am not,” was the direct answer.

His reasoning was a repeat of his answer to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) last week. The CIA waterboarded those detainees with the authorization of a Justice Department legal opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel. So the Justice Department “cannot possibly” investigate, he said, U.S. employees for an act they committed on the basis of Justice Department advice. Such an action, he explained, would send a message that interrogators could no longer safely rely on that advice going forward.

Mukasey also refused Conyers’ request to see the OLC opinions that authorized waterboarding, because they discussed techniques of what remains a “classified program.” Conyers protested that every member of the committee was cleared to see top secret material, but Mukasey was unmoved, though offered to continue “ongoing discussions” with the committee — discussions of which Conyers seemed to be unaware.
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Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) started his questions by asking about the President’s Article II powers under the Constitution. Do you think that the President can break any law he pleases because he’s the President — including, say, statutes banning torture?

“I can’t contemplate any situation in which this president would assert Article II authority to do something that the law forbids,” Mukasey shot back.