White House offers interview with Rove (but NOT under oath)

Their audacity is friking unbelievable, subpoena the bastards.

WASHINGTON - The White House offered Tuesday to make political strategist Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers available for congressional interviews — but not testimony under oath — in the investigation of the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., said he would still press for White House aides to testify under oath but that White House counsel Fred Fielding "indicated he didn't want to negotiate" whether Rove and others would have to appear in a full hearing. "That doesn't mean we're not going to try," Schumer said.

The White House move was announced after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies. That had come as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of the prosecutors.

Gonzales got a morale boost with an early-morning call from
President Bush, their first conversation since a week ago when the president said he was unhappy with how the Justice Department handled the firings.

The White House said Bush planned a statement late Tuesday afternoon upon his return from a trip to Kansas City.

While some lawmakers have called for Gonzales to resign, Bush intended to make a statement of support for him to remain as attorney general, the White House said. The president was also to talk about his position on the offer made to Congress, a subject on which he feels strongly.

LinkHere

White House on Rove and Mier's Testimony

by BarbinMD
Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 11:55:09 AM PDT

The White House has made their offer (from MSNBC):

Fred Fielding, he's the White House counsel, he was just here in the House of Representatives meeting with the House Judiciary Committee. He made the following offer to the Congress, both House and Senate ... he said Rove and Harriet Miers would be offered to the Committees for their testimony in the Alberto Gonzales and federal prosecutors scandal. However, he said it would be unsworn testimony, not under oath, behind closed doors and no trancript would be permitted.

Update::

Schumer responds: They're not giving us the opportunity to get to the bottom of what really happened here. And in that way it's a pretty clever proposal, but it doesn't do the job of figuring out what happened as best we can tell. The next step is to consult with one another, Chairman Conyers and Chairman Leahy will take the lead in determining what our response will be. We obviously will present a counter-offer to them that will be far more complete and far more extensive, but speaking for the Senate side, I spoke to Chairman Leahy earlier. We will move forward with the subpoenas on Thursday because this is not what Chairman Leahy outlined Sunday, which is coming before us, speaking under oath.

Shorter answer? No.

Update by kos: What the White House is really saying is, "We reserve the right to lie." Otherwise, if they intend to tell the truth, why would it matter whether they're under oath or not?