What Karl Rove Fears Most

In an April 29 letter back to the committee, Luskin wrote that Rove would only appear under the following conditions: "Mr. Rove is prepared to make himself available for an interview on this specific issue with Committee staff. Mr. Rove would speak candidly and truthfully about this matter, but the interview would not be transcribed nor would Mr. Rove be under oath."

Yesterday, Conyers and three colleagues fired back: "[A]n interview conducted without a transcript and not under oath would frustrate a full and fair inquiry. An interview without a transcript is an invitation to confusion and will not permit us to obtain a straightforward and clear record, as several of us have explained in response to a similar offer by White House counsel Fred Fielding in the U.S. Attorney matter. . . .

"We simply do not understand why anyone who is prepared to tell the truth would object to an oath and a record of what is said. This is particularly true in this case, where Mr. Rove has already spoken on the record on this subject."

As I wrote in my April 22 column, a letter Rove himself sent to MSBNC's Dan Abrams -- the only network anchor who's devoted substantial time to the Siegelman case -- was a classic.

Rove likes questions as long as he's asking them -- he raised 59 of them, most of them argumentative, about Abrams's coverage. But at the same time, he answered none of the obvious questions about his own conduct. The closest he came to an actual denial was this carefully phrased declaration: "I certainly didn't meet with anyone at the Justice Department or either of the two U.S. Attorneys in Alabama about investigating or indicting Siegelman." But did he talk to anyone, or e-mail them? Did any of his subordinates? Did he express interest in prosecuting Siegelman to anyone, in any way?

Abrams wrote back, appropriately enough: "Your letter poses questions that you believe I should have asked as part of our coverage, but many of the most significant ones only you can answer. . . . You accuse me of 'diminishing the search for facts and evidence,' yet thus far you have refused to answer any questions under oath or even from me that would aid in that very search."

Another Rove Mention

Andrew Stern writes for Reuters: "A witness at the trial of political fundraiser Antoin Rezko testified on Thursday that then-White House aide Karl Rove was asked to replace the federal prosecutor in Chicago to abort a probe of Illinois corruption.

"Rove has denied knowledge of any discussion to replace Patrick Fitzgerald, the widely respected U.S. attorney in Chicago, when Rove was one of President George W. Bush's top advisers."

Prosecution witness Ali Ata "said Rezko told him in 2004 when the FBI's investigation of Rezko became public, that 'there will be a change in the U.S. attorney's office' and the probe would end. . . .

"Robert Kjellander, a leading Illinois Republican and former treasurer of the Republican National Committee, is a friend of Rove's. . . .

"Asked by the prosecutor how Ata imagined Rezko could engineer the change, Ata said Rezko told him, 'Mr. Kjellander will talk to Karl Rove and make a change in the U.S. attorney's office.' . . .

"When prosecutors revealed that Ata would testify about the supposed plot to remove Fitzgerald, Kjellander and Rove both denied the allegation, saying there was nothing to it."