Conyers Subpoenas Karl Rove

May 22, 2008 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued a subpoena to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for testimony about the politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ), including former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's case. Yesterday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, sent a letter to the committee expressing that Rove would not agree to testify voluntarily, per the committee's previous requests.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers said. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters."

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Separately, Chairman Conyers recently received a letter from DOJ's Office of Professional Responibility (OPR) indicating that the office has opened an investigation into allegations of selective prosecution of Siegelman and others.

The relevant documents are linked below:

Full text of the cover letter sent to Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney

Full text of the subpoena

Full text of the letter received yesterday from Luskin, declining to provide voluntary testimony

Letter from OPR regarding new investigation into selective prosecution allegations

Source: House Judiciary Committee