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WASHINGTON ? Monica Goodling, a senior Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday. "The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said the lawyer, John Dowd. "One need look no further than the recent circumstances and proceedings involving Lewis Libby," he said, a reference to the recent conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff in the CIA leak case.

Three House committees subpoenaed in connection with the bribery investigation into imprisoned former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his associates reached an agreement with federal prosecutors Tuesday allowing the subpoenas to be withdrawn, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Under the agreement, five outstanding subpoenas will be withdrawn and the committees will voluntarily hand over documents in addition to material already provided, according to a statement released by Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi. Two committee staffers will appear March 1 before the grand jury in San Diego that has been considering evidence stemming from the Cunningham case,...

Abuse Of Power: Threats by Senate Democrats to subpoena White House officials go far beyond politics. Nothing less than the constitutional wall dividing legislative and executive powers is at stake. President Bush is confronted with a responsibility in which not just his own White House is at risk, but the operational abilities of the institution of the presidency itself. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy is threatening to subpoena White House officials such as presidential adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers over the ouster of eight U.S. attorneys in December. President Bush says he'll let them...

U.S. President George Bush has OK'd appearances by adviser Karl Rove and other White House figures before Congress on the firing of eight federal prosecutors. However, Rove, Harriet Miers, deputy White House counsel William Kelley and White House aide Scott Jennings would not be made to testify under oath, The Hill reported Tuesday. Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have said they want to subpoena administration officials in their investigation into the firing of the U.S. attorneys. Both House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said they were disappointed in the White...

Democrats Offer Talking Points on US Attorney Firings By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor March 21, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Bush administration is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt: "If Karl Rove plans to tell the truth, he has nothing to fear from being under oath like any other witness," the Democrat said in a news release on Tuesday. Democrats are demanding that Rove and other top administration officials testify under oath about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. They have rejected President Bush's offer to have Rove and others speak privately...

WASHINGTON (AP) - 0320dv-us-attorneys A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down. Democrats' response to his proposal was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides. "Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability," said Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bush, in a late-afternoon statement at the...

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday he intends to subpoena White House officials involved in ousting federal prosecutors and is dismissing anything short of their testimony in public. The Bush White House was expected to announce early this week whether it will let political strategist Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and other officials testify or will seek to assert executive privilege in preventing their appearance. The chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt., last week delayed a vote on the subpoenas until Thursday as the president's counsel, Fred Fielding, sought to negotiate terms. But...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors. By voice vote and without dissent, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president's top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings. The White House has refused to budge in the controversy, standing by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and insisting that the firings were appropriate. White House spokesman Tony Snow said that...

President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to allow top aides to testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath, or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down. "We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants," Bush said in a statement from the White House. "I proposed a reasonable way to avoid an impasse." He added: "There's no indication ... that anybody did anything improper."