Rep. John Conyers' Pursuit of Karl Rove - Seeking RNC Siegelman E-mails

[L. Coyote]

This Week In John Conyers' Pursuit of Karl Rove
By Matthew Blake 08/07/2008 - http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/this-week-in-john

Congress may be in recess, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) isn't taking a vacation from his enduring probe of Karl Rove's role in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Today Conyers wrote a letter (pdf http://judiciary.house.gov/News/PDFs/Conyers080807.pdf) requesting that the Republican National Committee hand over all documents related to Siegelman, including emails sent between the RNC and the White House. He also requested documents and emails subpoenaed by the RNC in their investigation of the politicization of the Justice Department.

Conyers' letter follows last week's ruling (http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/federal-judge-white), which limited the right of White House officials to invoke claims of executive privilege. District Judge John Bates ruled that White House officials are not "totally immune from ever having to respond to congressional testimony" when subpoenaed. Even when the president has asserted executive privilege, officials must appear before Congress and, when appropriate, invoke executive privilege. Bates also ruled that officials must give a specific description of subpoenaed documents they're withholding based on executive privilege.

Jill Simpson, an Alabama attorney active in the state Republican Party, told the Judiciary Committee last year that Karl Rove ordered the Justice Department to re-open a bribery probe into Siegelman (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/donald_siegelman/index.html), which ultimately resulted in a dubious conviction. After nearly a year of evasions based on a claim to executive privilege, Rove denied involvement in Siegelman's prosecution in a written statement two weeks ago, but he has not done the same in sworn, public testimony. His statement did not prevent the committee from holding him in criminal contempt.

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[BeHereNow]

1. Why hasn't the Judiciary issued a warrant over his contempt charge?

How is it possible that he still walks a free man
after ignoring the subpoena?

BHN