Miers, Taylor Had Roles in Firings Of U.S. Attorneys
By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The decision by two congressional panels to issue subpoenas to the White House yesterday escalates a constitutional showdown over the Justice Department's firing of nine U.S. attorneys that could end up being decided by the federal courts.
The subpoenas from the House and Senate judiciary committees are the first to be served directly on the White House or its staff since the start of the uproar over the prosecutor firings. They signal that Democrats are willing to pursue protracted litigation to determine whether President Bush or his top aides played a significant role in identifying U.S. attorneys to be removed.
The demands target former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers, who first suggested a mass firing of prosecutors after the 2004 elections, and Sara M. Taylor, a former White House political director who figured prominently in efforts to name a former colleague as the U.S. attorney in Little Rock. The two panels also issued subpoenas to the White House for documents related to the prosecutor dismissals.
The White House gave no indication that it intends to comply with the demands. "It's clear that they're trying to create some media drama," said spokesman Tony Snow, referring to Democratic lawmakers.
By targeting two former administration officials, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) are hoping that Miers and Taylor might decide to reach accords with the House and Senate committees, regardless of the administration's interests, according to congressional aides.
A similar tactic resulted in damaging public testimony earlier this year from D. Kyle Sampson and Monica M. Goodling, two former senior aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who were at the center of the prosecutors' dismissals.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats are keenly interested in obtaining testimony from presidential adviser Karl Rove but must first question other White House officials. A succession of Justice Department officials have denied responsibility for placing prosecutors' names on the firing lists, which Sampson compiled.
"We still haven't found out who actually concocted this scheme," Schumer said.
Taylor's attorney, W. Neil Eggleston, suggested yesterday that his client is open to cooperating, saying in a statement that Taylor "takes her responsibilities as a citizen very seriously."
"She is hopeful the White House and the Congress are quickly able to work out an appropriate agreement on her cooperation with the Senate's proceedings," Eggleston said.
Miers did not respond to a message left yesterday with her law office in Dallas.
Yesterday's move by the judiciary panels followed an unsuccessful attempt by Senate Democrats on Monday to hold a vote of no confidence in Gonzales. The attorney general has Bush's support and has deflected demands from Democrats and some Republicans that he resign over his management of the Justice Department.
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.
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