WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday subpoenaed Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, to testify about the U.S. attorney firings.
A group of Democrats said they would ask the solicitor general to name a special counsel to investigate whether U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales committed perjury in his testimony before the Judiciary Committee, CNN reported. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the attorney general told "the half-truth, the partial truth and everything but the truth."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., consulted Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the ranking Republican, before issuing subpoenas for Rove and Scott Jennings, another Bush aide, The Hill reported.
"The evidence shows that senior White House political operatives were focused on the political impact of federal prosecutions and whether federal prosecutors were doing enough to bring partisan voter fraud and corruption cases," Leahy said. "It is obvious that the reasons given for the firings of these prosecutors were contrived as part of a coverup and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort."
The White House maintains that executive privilege protects its staff from being required to testify before Congress.
