White House aides not immune from subpoenas: judge

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US judge Thursday said presidential advisors must testify in Congress when subpoenaed, rejecting White House efforts to confer immunity to current and former officials who have been asked to take the stand.

Federal Judge John Bates said former White House legal counsel Harriet Miers and other senior presidential advisors "do not have absolute immunity" from testifying before Congress "in the context of this particular subpoena dispute."

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee had subpoenaed Miers to testify in its investigation of alleged White House involvement in the 2006 sacking of nine federal prosecutors that led to the resignation of attorney general Alberto Gonzalez.

"The heart of the controversy is whether senior...