A committee of the House of Representatives recommended contempt charges on Wednesday against Karl Rove, who was President George W. Bush’s top political adviser.
The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines, 20 to 14, to cite Rove for defying its subpoena to testify in an inquiry into improper political meddling in the department.
But the panel’s top Republican, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, accused Democrats of conducting “witch hunts” and neglecting the people’s real business, like energy needs and border security.
The White House has invoked executive privilege in asserting that current and former top officials cannot be forced to testify before Congress, because the president’s right to confidential advice from his trusted aides would then be compromised.
The committee recommendation now goes to the full House, which voted in February to hold two other former White House officials in contempt in connection with the same inquiry. The House’s votes against Joshua Bolten, the former White House chief of staff, and Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, were the first contempt of Congress citations against the executive branch since the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
Congressional Democrats have been investigating the possibility that nine United States attorneys were dismissed in 2006 because their handling of politically charged cases, like allegations of wrongdoing by elected officials, was out of step with the administration’s political agenda.
As part of its inquiry, the committee headed by Conyers wants to question Rove about his knowledge, if any, of the decision to prosecute former Governor Donald Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat, who was convicted of bribery two years ago. Several Democrats have asserted that the charges were trumped up and politically motivated.
Rove has repeatedly stated – though not before Congress and not under oath – that he had no involvement in the Siegelman case, but Conyers said he was not convinced. “The questions about his role in the Siegelman case only continue to mount,” he said.
Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison. In practice, however, disputes between Congress and the White House in which the specter of contempt charges has been raised have usually been settled well short of the jailhouse door.
As a practical matter, it is highly unlikely that the United States attorney’s office in Washington will seek to prosecute former White House officials on the contempt charges.