Mukasey Refuses Probe of Bush Aides

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers committed no crime.

As promised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a lawsuit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.

"The House shall do so promptly," she said in a statement.

Mukasey said Bolten and Miers were right in ignoring subpoenas to provide Congress with White House documents or testify about the firings of federal prosecutors.

"The department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute Mr. Bolten or Ms. Miers," Mukasey wrote Pelosi.

Pelosi shot back that the aides can expect a lawsuit.

"The American people demand that we uphold the law," Pelosi said. "As public officials, we take an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect our system of checks and balances and our civil lawsuit seeks to do just that."

The suit had a political purpose too. Democrats have urged that the filing occur swiftly so that a judge might rule before the November elections, when all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate are up for grabs. Criticism of Bush's use of executive power is a key tenet of the Democrats' platform, from the presidential race on down.

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The House voted two weeks ago to cite Bolten and Miers for contempt of Congress and seek a grand jury investigation. Most Republicans boycotted the vote.

Pelosi requested the grand jury investigation on Thursday and gave Mukasey a week to reply. She said the House would file a civil suit seeking enforcement of the contempt citations if federal prosecutors declined to seek misdemeanor charges against Bolten and Miers. The plaintiffs would be the entire Judiciary Committee, who would be represented by the House's lawyers, according to aides to Pelosi and committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.

Mukasey took only a day to get back to her. But he had earlier joined his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, in telling lawmakers they would refuse to refer any contempt citations to prosecutors because Bolten and Miers were acting at Bush's instruction.

A civil suit would drag out a slow-motion crawl to a constitutional struggle between a Democratic-run Congress and a Republican White House that has been simmering for more than a year.

Democrats say Bush's instructions to Miers and Bolten to ignore the House Judiciary Committee's subpoenas was an abuse of power and an effort to block an effort to find out whether the White House directed the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for political reasons.

Republicans call the whole affair a political game and walked out of the House vote on the contempt citations in protest.

The 223-32 House vote on a resolution approving the contempt citations Feb. 14 was the first of its type in 25 years. The White House pointed out that it was the first time that such action had been taken against top White House officials who had been instructed by the president to remain silent to preserve executive privilege.

In his letter, received by the House early Friday evening, Mukasey pointed out that not only was Miers directed not to testify, she also was immune from congressional subpoenas and was right to not show up to the hearing to which she had been summoned.

"The contempt of Congress statute was not intended to apply and could not constitutionally be applied to an executive branch official who asserts the president's claim of executive privilege," Mukasey wrote, quoting Justice policy.

"Accordingly," Mukasey concluded, "the department has determined that the noncompliance by Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers with the Judiciary Committee subpoenas did not constitute a crime."

Though they were not surprised, Democrats reacted to Mukasey's letter with outrage.

"Today's decision to shelve the contempt process, in violation of a federal statute, shows that the White House will go to any lengths to keep its role in the U.S. attorney firings hidden," said Conyers. "In the face of such extraordinary actions, we have no choice but to proceed with a lawsuit to enforce the committee's subpoenas."

Comments

[RUSSO4]

Pelosi should worry more about her face. Looks like she got a bad batch of BOTOX. Why doesn't she worry about doing her job and not trying to go after people that did nothing wrong. She has lower ratings than Bush and that's bad. She made a lot of promises to you under achievers when she became speaker, something must be making her forget, it must be the botox

[Clarabell]

RUSSO- Typical Republican "deep thinker" response!

[repugssuck]

rollingdivision See Profile I'm a Fan of rollingdivision
The congress has no right to any information about the private conversations between any president and the president's advisers. The only exception was established in United States vs Nixon and there is no question this situation does not meet the requirements. So, it's a no go. Maybe the Democrats could find more important and productive things to work on? Other than serving up more red meat for the hate Bush crowd, this is a complete waste.

I truly agree the Democrats should have better things to do

1 Trying to find a President with an IQ over 12
2. Balancing the budget - which will take years
3. Getting out of this illegal war we fought
4. Dealing with the MOST corrupt administration ever
5. Dealing with an economy that is in shambles
6. Trade deficit at an all time high
7. Trying to figure out how we don't have to borrow billions from China to keep our economy afloat
8. Inept illegal immigration policy of this administration
9. Gas whores screwing the American people
10. But most of all impeaching these two IDIOTS we have in office today
Another right wing moron with a mouth the size of the Mississippi Delta!!!

[repugssuck]

What a shocking turn of events this is, another Bush flunky that fails to abide by one common trait of the law - attempting to find out the truth - a common factor in dealing with any of the repugs.

[rollingdivision]

The congress has no right to any information about the private conversations between any president and the president's advisers. The only exception was established in United States vs Nixon and there is no question this situation does not meet the requirements. So, it's a no go. Maybe the Democrats could find more important and productive things to work on? Other than serving up more red meat for the hate Bush crowd, this is a complete waste.

[jaschrod]

I suppose, by your comment that you do not wish to know anything that could be criminal, or clear up any misgivings. I suppose you would just rather let the government operate anyway they wish, whether it be legal, or not . Perfect recipe for failure of a country. Perfect example of a weak, believe all follower.

[rollingdivision]

It's the law, with court rulings to back it up.

[DELICIOUS]

WE THE PEOPLE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. NO ONE INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT IS ABOVE THE LAW. WHO DOES BU$H THINK HE IS...HE IS NOTHING BUT A PILE OF EXCREMENT WITH FLIES SURROUNDING HIM.

[BlackWidowPilot]

rollingdownhill,

OK, I'll bite, let's start by investigating the actual track record of your vaunted "party of family values:"

http://www.armchairsubversive.org/

We can then go into the debacle that is the Bushevik war for oil and empire launched by over 900+ lies about WMDs and al Qaeda. We can cover the no-bid contracts that resulted in rotting food being served to our troops, defective body armour(!!!), inadequate armoured vehicles, mercenaries(!!!), ad infinite nauseum. We can cover the malfeasance that has been the rescue and rebuilding effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We can cover the endless parade of Bush family cronies enriching themselves from our nation's treasury while delivering such garbage as (just one small example) useless 'educational" software from a company owned by Neal Bush forced upon our public school children by the malfeasance of No Child Left Behind.

Yeah, rollindownhill, nothing to see here, move along, move along.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Deidroni]

"The congress has no right to any information about the private conversations between any president and the president's advisers. "

Congress has every right to hear the testimony of Meyers and Bolton about the firings of the US attorneys. All the people from the WH during hearings, has said Bush had nothing to do with the firings. If that is true, no executive priveledge can be claimed. Second, what's more important than holding our highest government officials accountable to possible criminal or inappropriate behavior. Trust in our government is dependent on all officials being held to the same standard.

[Lemeritus]

RollingD, I think you have it backward.

There's ample case law to support the position that Congress has the right (even DUTY) to investigate any issue over which it has the authority to legislate, and to issue subpeonas and contempt citations for lack of compliance in their endeavors.

Congress, in fact, has three ways of pursuing contempt of its subpeona prerogative:
- by directing the Justice Department to instruct the U.S. District Attorney in the District of Columbia to bring contempt charges (which Mukasey, a good "company man" has stonewalled)
- by using their own "inherent contempt" prerogative (sending their sargent-at-arms to actually arrest Bolton and Miers) which has been upheld in at least two cases that I know of, and actually exercised three times -- my personal favorite, but a little awkward and probably messy
- by doing what it appears Congress is set to do in this case: bring suit against the people to be held in contempt, sidestepping the DOJ.

Your interpretation of US v. Nixon is way off the mark; while it recognized executive privilege (which is not a constitutional given) as necessary, the Supreme Court did not find the privilege either absolute or more important than Congress' right to investigate, particularly where abuse of power is indicated. Exposing and correcting abuses of power is Congress’ job.

"Maybe the Democrats could find more important and productive things to work on...."

As I've said before, without the dynamic tension between the legislative and executive branches of government, we are left with unchecked presidential authority (which leads to tyranny). It is essential that Congress as a body safeguards its rights of investigation and punishment of those who would hold Congress in disrespect.

[biwee]

American patriots need to learn WHO Mukasey is. They will then understand why the rule of LAW
means nothing to Mukasey.

[Kally]

Of come on....this is the wonderful AG that the democrats helped approve. After all he was going to work with the Dems and bring back honor to the AG office ISN'T HE DOING JUST THAT.

[PaleMail]

Thanks Senator Schumer, your boy Mukasey is doing a heckuva job.

[joebaggadonuts]

Impeach Mukasey, eh?

[JTyroler]

I don't hate this country - just the people in charge. We have a Congress that won't do it's duties, a corrupt administration that's thriving on that fact - meanwhile, our nation is self-destructing because of people's greed and drive for power. For the corrupt Christians like Dubya, you'll have a lot of explaining to do when you meet your maker.

[Zhonni]

THIS IS JUST GREAT, DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!!! Way to confirm a MORON! I knew he should not be attorney general after the fiasco with the torture question.

[darker]

Won't prosecute? Of course not!
It's FRAT BOYS RULE! Anything bush-Cheney want, they get.
They can commit ANY HIGH CRIMES they want!

they will ALWAYS will go unpunished. T

hey are privileged by the
NANNY STATE FOR THE RICH & corporate welfare queens--
whom they represent while screwing middle-income and working
class Americans whom they despise.

[Veri]

What are the DemoRepublicans going to do now? Suck it up and shoulder on. The longer the voters continue to vote DemoRepublican Party, the longer we will lose. Third party time before the DemoRepublicans make it harder still for third parties to register candidates like they did after Perot. There is your bipartisanship. Threaten their powerbase and they just tighten the rules.

Keep voting! Vote DemoRepublican for more of the same.

[jaschrod]

Why do you try to explain why we should not be supporting the status quo? The people of this country are weak followers.I personally believe the people of this country were/are preconditioned from birth to follow without question. It starts with the belief of an existing god, without proof, and to question is to be looked down on. Pathetic.

[GingerB]

A civil suit, Nancy? Are you friggin' joking?

You have the power to enforce Inherent Contempt of Congress proceedings against Miers and Bolten. Have the Sergeant at Arms go arrest them tomorrow.

Grow a spine!

[forebode]

What REALLY needs to happen is for Federal Police to enter the White House and force subpoenas on the people who are supposed to get them, and if they don't, Bush and Cheney should be forced at gunpoint to stand down or be taken down. Bush, Cheney, and all their associates need to be STRIPPED of executive privilege they keep claiming. The concept of Executive Privilege comes from the divine right of kings. Bush, Cheney, and their equally evil, greedy, worthless cohorts need to be stripped of power before they get any more chances to totally screw everyone whom they see as "nobodies" just because they are middle-class, working class, working poor, and generally all of us have-nots. We outnumber them. Thomas Jefferson's contribution to the Contribution gives us permission to use our numbers against the corrupt powers-that-be. It's called revolution. The 2nd Amendment is there for a reason. It is actually a corollary to the part of the Constitution that allows civil revolt (and armed, at that), if those who are running this country decide to take away civil liberties and do as they please at the expense of We The People. Whatever It Takes.

[Rog49Thomas]

Just as the Geneva Conventions don't apply to terrorists (unlawful enemy combatants), the Constitution does not apply to Republicans.

Everything changed on 9/11, don't you remember?

Thank you Chuck and Babs for supporting AG Mukasey to bring back "honor" to the Dept of Justice!

[newshawk14]

In all honesty, I'm a physicist, not a psychiatrist , but I think you ought to seek our professional help.

[newshawk14]

Sorry, I screwed up, this was supposed to go to the post of coundowntoimpeachment below.

[Nonamnesiac]

This is just theater by Pelosi. Everyone knew the Justice Department wouldn't prosecute the Administration's functionaries for illegally carrying out illegal Administration policy.

Under the Constitution she has one option -- impeachment and removal of Cheney and Bush. Here's just another of the already myriad proven high crimes and misdemeanors committed by Bush and Cheney. As Pelosi is as pro-Bush and in favor of his trampling on the Constitution as Bush is, she will do nothing but theater, resisting to the very end the actions that would force honesty, and, more importantly, abiding by the rule of law, by the Administration.

Cindy Sheehan for Congress in 2008.

[DMcD]

Well, so much for the "rule of law" in this , the newest Banana Republic , America.

Welcome to BANANAMERICA.