VIDEO UPDATE - Wexler on Floor: 'Not since Watergate has a President so blatantly ignored the will of Congress...The Constitution demands that we hold these renegade officials in contempt of Congress'...

Brad Friedman Byon 2/14/2008, 4:39pm PT

Buried by a number of other things today, we refer you to Paul Kiel's coverage with a note that Harry Reid's Senate has yet to hold a floor vote on similar contempt citations against Karl Rove and Josh Bolten, as recommended to him by a bi-partisan Senate Judiciary Committee vote last December...

Well, after all that --- after seven months, it's done. The House passed the contempt resolution against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers, 223-32. Most Republicans, having staged their walk out , did not vote. So now the ball's in Attorney General Michael Mukasey's court. He's expected to decline to enforce the citation of contempt, since both Bolten and Miers declined to testify as a result of an assertion of executive privilege. The resolution included both a criminal contempt citation and the authorization for the House Judiciary Committee to sue the White House if Mukasey refuses to enforce the citation. You can read those here. Update: Here's the final tally.



UPDATE: Our favorite House member of late, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), speaks in favor of the contempt resolution for a minute and a half. Video at right, full statement below...

especially not President Bush or Vice-President Cheney. It is high time to defend the Constitution and Congress as a co-equal branch of Government. Our liberty and freedoms as Americans are dependent on the checks and balances that protect our nation. Madame Speaker, no one is immune from accountability and the rule of law. Not Harriet Miers or Josh Bolten. Andnot President Bush or Vice-President Cheney. It is high time to defend the Constitution and Congress as a co-equal branch of Government. Our liberty and freedoms as Americans are dependent on the checks and balances that protect our nation. Not since Watergate...Not since Watergate has a President so openly disregarded the will of Congress. Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers have blatantly ignored Congressional subpoenas, thumbing their nose at Congress and our obligation of legitimate oversight. The power of the Congressional subpoena safeguards our liberty. It protects against an all-powerful President. The Constitution demands that we hold these renegade officials in contempt of Congress. Thank you Madame Chair, Madame Speaker.



