Legal experts raise questions about Rove testimony deal

By GottaLaff

Controversy surrounding KKKarl Rove? No way! Whoever could imagine such a thing?

A deal brokered by the Obama White House to obtain Karl Rove’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee contains a number of unusual provisions, prominent legal scholars say.

Rove testified before the Judiciary Committee on July 7 concerning his alleged involvement in the December 2006 firings of seven US Attorneys and the prosecution of Don Siegelman. The Committee is being extremely tight-mouthed about the result, and Rove himself has also declined to comment.

The secrecy is in line with the agreement (pdf) worked out last March to secure testimony from Rove and from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, which guaranteed that no information would be released until the completion of all interviews. However, under the terms of that agreement it appears likely that certain crucial facts, especially about the US Attorney firings, may never come out.

Legal experts consulted for this article are also concerned about the role played by current White House Council Greg Craig, who negotiated the arrangement made by Miers and Rove with the House Judiciary Committee.

Need wall. Must find wall. Head needs to bang into wall.

Perhaps the most mysterious clause in the agreement is a reference to four pages of material which Congress will not be allowed to see but will only have described to them: “With the exception of 4 pages of particularly sensitive privileged material (which will be described for Committee staff by a representative of the former President), Committee staff (majority and minority) will be allowed to review the documents for the period December 2004 through March 8, 2007.”

The House Judiciary Committee refused to comment or elaborate on this question.

However, Scott Horton, a Columbia Law School professor and contributor to Harper’s Magazine, believes the “4 pages” may relate to briefings of the former president on either the US Attorney firings or the Siegelman prosecution. [...]

If those four pages are being kept secret under the presidential communications privilege, it could imply that Rove may have discussed one of the two scandals with President Bush at the time of its occurrence.

This is a lengthy piece. Go here to read the whole thing.

Ah! Here's a wall now!

And here's one of my old Don Siegelman/Rove posts for background.