2 Former Aides to Bush Get Subpoenas

Conyers said that "this subpoena is not a request, it is a demand on behalf of the American people." Leahy said that the administration "cannot stonewall congressional investigations by refusing to provide documents and witnesses while claiming nothing improper occurred."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that Congress should accept the administration's offer to let Rove and other officials be interviewed privately and not under oath.

"The committees can easily obtain the facts they want without this confrontational approach," he aid.

Nine federal prosecutors were removed last year -- seven on one day -- sparking a subsequent furor in Congress over shifting explanations for the dismissals by Gonzales and other Justice officials. Three of the prosecutors have alleged that before they were removed, they were contacted by lawmakers or their staffs about politically sensitive criminal investigations.

The Justice Department has begun an investigation that also is examining whether senior department officials violated federal law by taking political affiliation into account when hiring career prosecutors and immigration judges.

Yesterday's subpoenas were issued more than three months after Congress first authorized some for current and former administration officials -- a group that now numbers more than 20, including six of the fired prosecutors. About half of those subpoenas have been issued.

The Senate panel demanded that Taylor appear on July 11. The House committee called on Miers to testify the next day.

One constitutional-law expert said yesterday that the White House is in a difficult legal position, with little ability to refuse the subpoenas. "They're in the unsustainable position of refusing to explain the increasing evidence of a coverup," said Charles Tiefer of the University of Baltimore Law School.

Tiefer, a former deputy House counsel, said the White House does not have standing to try to quash the subpoenas preemptively. That leaves White House counsel Fred F. Fielding with the choice of a negotiated settlement or a showdown in federal court.

If the White House refuses the subpoenas, Leahy and Conyers could move to hold the White House in contempt, then forward those citations to the full House and Senate for approval. The contempt citations would then be sent to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey A. Taylor, who is required to empanel a grand jury to consider indictments. Taylor may have to recuse himself because of his involvement in events as a U.S. attorney.

The top Republican on the Senate panel, Arlen Specter (Pa.), said that he supports the decision by Leahy and Conyers to issue the subpoenas. Specter said he called Fielding again yesterday in a final attempt to work out a compromise. Leahy also met privately with Fielding last Friday in his Senate offices, according to a senior aide.

Justice Department e-mails and other documents turned over to Congress show that Miers was in regular contact with Sampson about the progress of the firings, and was involved in administration debate over how to respond to the growing uproar earlier this year. Miers resigned in January.

Testimony and documents show that Sara Taylor was also involved in the firings and their aftermath, particularly in connection with the plan to replace Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, with former Rove aide Tim Griffin.

Staff writers Michael Abramowitz and Peter Baker contributed to this report.