Thursday, July 19, 2007

Bolten, Miers face contempt charges; Gonzales not off hook over wiretapping

We're getting closer to a showdown:
The White House chief of staff faced possible contempt charges after a congressional panel on Thursday ruled as invalid President George W. Bush's bid to limit the probe of the firing of federal prosecutors.

On a party-line vote of 7-3, a Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee rejected Bush's contention that his claim of executive privilege shields the top aide, Joshua Bolten, from having to turn over subpoenaed documents.

"Those claims are not legally valid," said panel Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat...

Last week the panel moved toward contempt proceedings against former White House counsel Harriet Miers after she declined to appear at a hearing. It rejected Bush's claim that Miers did not have to show up.

If the White House doesn't yield and produce the documents, the full House Judiciary Committee could vote to hold Bolton and Miers in contempt of Congress. If the entire House then concurs, the case would be referred to a U.S. attorney to seek grand jury indictment.

Oh, and Alberto Gonzales still has some troubles of his own.

1 comment:

Alexander Wolfe said...

Keep up the pressure...