SUBPOENA THIS:

Bush clashes with Congress over U.S. attorney firings: He refuses to let Rove testify. Democrats say they will issue subpoenas. (Richard B. Schmitt and Richard A. Serrano, March 21, 2007, LA Times)

Inviting a showdown with congressional leaders over the firing of U.S. attorneys, a defiant President Bush on Tuesday refused to make White House political strategist Karl Rove available for public questioning under oath.

Bush agreed to let lawmakers interview Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers in private, but the concessions failed to placate Democrats, who have accused the White House and Justice Department of dismissing eight federal prosecutors for political reasons.

He shouldn't have yielded that much--it's an Executive matter.

MORE:
The Phoniest Scandal of the Century (So Far) (Dick Morris, 3/21/07, Real Clear Politics)

When will the Bush administration grow some guts? Except for its resolute -- read: stubborn -- position on Iraq, the White House seems incapable of standing up for itself and battling for its point of view. The Democratic assault on the administration over the dismissal of United States attorneys is the most fabricated and phony of scandals, but the Bush people offer only craven apologies, half-hearted defenses, and concessions. Instead, they should stand up to the Democrats and defend the conduct of their own Justice Department.

There is no question that the attorney general and the president can dismiss United States attorneys at any time and for any reason. We do not have civil servant U.S. attorneys but maintain the process of presidential appointment for a very good reason: We consider who prosecutes whom and for what to be a question of public policy that should reflect the president's priorities and objectives.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2007 12:00 AM