Panel Authorizes Subpoenas for Justice Dept. Officials

The Senate Judiciary Committee today authorized the use of subpoenas to compel the testimony of five Justice Department officials as part of an investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, but the panel put off a vote on subpoenas for top White House aides, including senior political adviser Karl Rove.

Meeting in an executive session, the 19-member committee voted to authorize the issuing of 11 subpoenas -- five for Justice Department officials involved in the firings and six for U.S. attorneys who were dismissed last year in the controversial purge. The subpoena authority gives the panel a fall-back position in case any of the current and former officials refuse to testify voluntarily or Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales reconsiders his pledge to let his subordinates appear before the committee.

Some Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican senator have called on Gonzales to resign over the firings, which critics have charged were politically motivated and carried out in a deceitful manner that involved false claims of poor performance and misleading statements to Congress.

The committee empowered its Democratic chairman, in consultation with its top Republican, to issue subpoenas for D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's former chief of staff; Michael J. Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty; Monica Goodling, the Justice Department's White House liaison; William W. Mercer, a nominee to become associate attorney general; and Michael A. Battle, who directed the office overseeing the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys and carried out the firings.

Sampson resigned Monday after acknowledging that he did not tell key Justice officials about the extent of his communications with the White House about the dismissals, leading the officials to provide incomplete information to Congress.

The committee also authorized subpoenas for six of the eight fired U.S. attorneys: Carol S. Lam of San Diego, Bud Cummins of Little Rock, Paul K. Charlton of Phoenix, John McKay of Seattle, Daniel G. Bogden of Las Vegas and David C. Iglesias of Albuquerque. All six testified under oath last week before the House Judiciary Committee. The other two fired U.S. attorneys, who were not included in today's subpoena authorization, are Margaret Chiara of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Kevin V. Ryan of San Francisco.

The Judiciary Committee stopped short of authorizing subpoenas for top White House officials when Republicans expressed reservations. The committee decided instead to postpone a vote on those subpoenas for a week. The panel is interested in questioning former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers and deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley, as well as Rove, who holds the title of deputy chief of staff to President Bush.

Cummins was fired to make way for the appointment of a former Rove aide as U.S. attorney in Little Rock.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said today he wants to obtain the "cooperation and all relevant information" from those whose testimony the committee is seeking.

"If I do not get the cooperation, I will subpoena," Leahy warned. "We will have testimony under oath before this committee. We'll have the chance for both Republicans and Democrats to ask questions, and we'll find out what happened."

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the committee, cautioned against acting too hastily in issuing subpoenas.

"I agree that this committee should get to the bottom of this issue," he said, adding, "I would hope that we would do so with at least a modicum of objectivity."