GovernmentExecutive.com

The Justice Department appears set to refuse separate subpoenas by two House committees for transcripts of interviews of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by former Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's office, creating the latest of several fights over congressional oversight power.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., announced Friday that Justice told the committee it would not comply with a subpoena to Attorney General Michael Mukasey for records of interviews of Bush and Cheney that Fitzgerald's office created during its investigation into the leak of the identify of former CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The department also appears likely to refuse a subpoena issued to Mukasey Friday by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., for the Bush and Cheney interview records.

The Justice Department gave the Oversight and Government Reform Committee access to redacted transcripts of Fitzgerald's interviews of White House staff, but declined Conyers' request for similar access.

"In contrast to the Oversight Committee, the Judiciary Committee does not have government-wide oversight jurisdiction and it does not have jurisdiction over the White House," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Nelson wrote in a recent letter to Conyers.

A spokesman said Monday that Justice is reviewing Conyers' subpoena.

Conyers and Waxman have said they are renewing inquiries into the Plame matter based on new information, including former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's claims that Bush and Cheney urged him to deny that Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby was not involved in the leak. Libby, who Fitzgerald found was one of three administration officials who disclosed Plame's CIA work to reporters, was convicted of perjury and other offenses. Bush commuted his sentence.

Neither chairman has said how he will respond to a refusal to comply with a subpoena, but the primary recourse for chairmen to enforce their demands would be to call for votes on holding Mukasey in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply. Conyers is pursuing contempt charges in U.S. District Court against White House officials for refusing committee subpoenas to appear at hearing. Waxman recently scheduled a vote to hold officials from EPA and OMB in contempt to refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents, but canceled it after the agencies claimed executive privilege. In declining to give the Judiciary Committee access to the Bush and Cheney transcripts, Nelson said "the executive branch has substantial confidentiality interests in these documents," but the department has not yet made an executive privilege claim over the documents.

However each side proceeds, observers expect the fight over the Plame documents will be among several disputes between the Democratic-led Congress and the White House that drag to the end of the Bush administration or beyond. As the clock winds down, committee chairmen are stepping up pressure. Conyers' subpoena Friday also demands documents sought by the committee in investigations, including the firing of U.S. attorneys and activities of the department's civil rights division.

In a letter last Thursday, Conyers also urged Justice to cooperate with a GAO probe into alleged politicization of case selection in the department's civil rights division. "DOJ officials have removed key documents from files, claiming GAO does not have a right to access predecisional or deliberative information," Conyers wrote. GAO confirmed those facts. The Justice Department declined to comment.

COMMENTS

• Well, to consider experience and public records, one MUST begin at the beginning and if you can’t say much good about Shrub, he and his administration has been consistent; from BEFORE the beginning. And, yes, as long as my vote doesn’t count as much as the next person’s, I will have a problem. As long as less than 600 Floridian votes are worth more than 543,816 popular votes, and that count is influenced by family; I will have a problem. As long as the Electoral College supports ONLY the two party system and denies any other candidates and parties a snowball’s chance in Hades; I will have a problem. The worst insult of all is the negation of so many military votes by a future commander-in-chief. YOu have no idea how I wish we were truly the democracy we keep holding up to the world's as THE standard. Regardless, as for taxes rising; doesn’t anyone but me think it’s about time? No, I supposed not. Now, not being a masochist, I am not asking someone to take my money; but I do expect all adults to pay their way. That is getting to be the real problem in the US and in our economy. Potential homeowners who signed legal and binding contracts are now crying foul. Lenders who lobbied for and received from a Party Pachyderm legislature the Banking Bill of 2005, and later solicited $100K of loans from sub-prime applicants, now claim no blame in the number of foreclosures. Some one will have to pay for this mess 7 years in the making; and I don’t think its fair for our kids to do it. And all this is being lead by example; the example of our POTUS and the huge deficit his administration has run up. Folks, dinner was served and now the check has come due. Pay or wash the dishes. Tip off Posted July 3, 2008 12:53 PM
• When are going to get over the fact that Bush actually won the election in 2000 according to the count that I have read about. Every one that wants to elect Oboma needs to hold on to your pocket books and billfolds cause your taxes are going to increase and be prepared for your health care to be rationed. daddygo Posted July 3, 2008 3:25 AM
• I am amazed; and they once called Regan the “Teflon president”. This administration has had a record run of disinformation, slight-of-hand, and obfuscation from the election Jeb handed his brother in 2000 up to today; and I see no indication they intend to change their tactics. It may take some time but I would LOVE to find out the truth. Okay, we know the war was waged based on lies; the tax breaks have left our economy in shambles; and our great American Constitutional rights (e.g. search & seizure, right to speedy trial by our peers, right to legal representation, etc.) have slowly and quietly slipped out of the country. As for telling the world who our spies are; huh, and the Party Pachyderm talked about Slick Willy giving away the farm… I’d REALLY appreciate knowing just how bad the damage is. Tip off Posted July 1, 2008 4:11 PM