Sen. Schumer Calls On Karl Rove To Testify

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/12/schumer-rove/

Sen. Schumer Calls On Karl Rove To Testify

schumer_2.jpgIn a new statement, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to call on top White House aide Karl Rove to testify over the U.S. Attorney purge. The White House acknowledged yesterday that Rove “served as a conduit for complaints about federal prosecutors. From Schumer’s statement:

“The more we learn, the more it seems that people at high levels in the White House have been involved in the U.S. Attorney purge,” Schumer said. … “There’s an emerging pattern that is extremely disturbing and everyday the sanctity of U.S. Attorneys as neutral enforcers of law without fear or favor is diminished,” Schumer said. “We will get to bottom of this.”

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman went through the record on Rove’s involvement in his column today:

Sources told Newsweek that the list of prosecutors to be fired was drawn up by Mr. Gonzales’s chief of staff, “with input from the White House.” And Allen Weh, the chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, told McClatchy News that he twice sought Karl Rove’s help — the first time via a liaison, the second time in person — in getting David Iglesias, the state’s U.S. attorney, fired for failing to indict Democrats. “He’s gone,” he claims Mr. Rove said.

After that story hit the wires, Mr. Weh claimed that his conversation with Mr. Rove took place after the decision to fire Mr. Iglesias had already been taken. Even if that’s true, Mr. Rove should have told Mr. Weh that political interference in matters of justice is out of bounds; Mr. Weh’s account of what he said sounds instead like the swaggering of a two-bit thug.

Also yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) declared their intention to question Rove “about any role he may have played in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.”

Digg It!

Full statement:

IN LIGHT OF TWO NEW REVELATIONS, SCHUMER CALLS ON SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO CALL KARL ROVE TO TESTIFY

In light of new reports that Karl Rove played a role in the firing of U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today asked the Judiciary Committee to call on Karl Rove to testify. Reports over the weekend reveal that New Mexico State Republican Chairman Allen Weh spoke with Rove about U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and that Rove spoke with both Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House Counsel Harriet Miers about Weh’s complaints.

“The more we learn, the more it seems that people at high levels in the White House have been involved in the U.S. Attorney purge,” Schumer said. “Recent disclosures reveal that Rove talked to the NM State Party Chair Allen Weh before any public announcement of the firing was made and that Rove talked about Mr. Igleisas to the Attorney General and the White House Counsel. While the White House states not incorrectly that someone in Karl Rove’s position might get complaints about U.S. Attorneys, it is almost unheard of for a U.S. Attorney to be fired shortly after such discussions occur, when that US Attorney had received highly favorable reviews and ratings.”

Schumer’s congressional inquiry has already exposed that in Arkansas, White House Counsel Harriet Miers iintervened on behalf of Tim Griffin, a former aide to Karl Rove, to persuade Attorney General Gonzales to install Griffin as the interim U.S. Attorney there.

“There’s an emerging pattern that is extremely disturbing and everyday the sanctity of U.S. Attorneys as neutral enforcers of law without fear or favor is diminished,” Schumer said. “We will get to bottom of this.”