Feb 28, 2008 2:42 pm US/Eastern
Pelosi Seeks Grand Jury Probe Of Bush Aides
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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US Representative of California and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
AP
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the Justice Department on Thursday to open a grand jury investigation into whether Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff, and Harriet Miers, President Bush's former counsel, should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.
Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that the department pursue misdemeanor charges against Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and against Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.
The Democratic-controlled House voted two weeks ago to hold Bolten and Miers in contempt for failing to cooperate with committee investigations.
"There is no authority by which persons may wholly ignore a subpoena and fail to appear as directed because a president unilaterally instructs them to do so," Pelosi wrote Attorney General Michael Mukasey. She noted that Congress subpoenaed Miers to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the firings.
"Surely, your department would not tolerate that type of action if the witness were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury," Pelosi wrote.
She added: "Short of a formal assertion of executive privilege, which cannot be made in this case, there is no authority that permits a president to advise anyone to ignore a duly issued congressional subpoena for documents."
Pelosi sent an additional letter to U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, the chief federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, whose office would oversee the grand jury.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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