Rove deposed in U.S. attorney probe
By: John Bresnahan and Josh Gerstein, of Politico
July 7, 2009 07:29 PM EST

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was deposed Tuesday
by attorneys for the House Judiciary Committee, according to Rep. John
Conyers (D-Mich.), the panel’s chairman.

Rove’s deposition began at 10 a.m. and ended around 6:30 p.m, with
several breaks, Conyers said.

Conyers would not comment on what Rove told congressional investigators,
what the next step in the long-running Judiciary Committee investigation
would be or whether Rove would face additional questioning.

“He was deposed today,” Conyers said in an interview. “That’s all I can
tell you.”

Conyers’ panel had first subpoenaed Rove in 2007 as part of its probe
into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. But the Bush White House, citing
executive privilege, refused to make Rove or White House Counsel Harriet
Miers available for any deposition.

Conyers’ panel responded by filing a civil lawsuit against the White
House and prevailed in district court last year but the appeals court
had yet to address the issue.

With an agreement between the Obama White House, the Bush White House
and House Judiciary Committee, the current Justice Department avoided
having to choose sides in court and risk an appeals court precedent
which could undercut executive privilege or Congress's right to
investigate alleged government malfeasance.

Miers was interviewed by Judiciary Committee staffers in June.