From The Raw Story
By John Byrne

Four days before leaving office, and ten days before House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) subpoenaed him to testify, President Bush’s White House Counsel instructed Karl Rove not to appear before Congress or turn over any documents relating to his time at the White House.

The letter, on White House stationery, was addressed to Rove’s D.C. lawyer, Robert Luskin, and addressed questions of whether the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff was obligated to appear before Congress relating to the firing of nine US Attorneys.

“Please advise Mr. Rove (i) that the President continues to direct him not to provide information (whether in the form of testimony or documents) to the Congress in this matter… and not to appear before Congress in this matter,” then-White House Counsel Fred Fielding wrote.

The Jan. 16, 2009 letter was acquired by Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and printed online Thursday evening.

At its heart, Fielding’s letter reflects President George W. Bush’s decision to continue to argue that “[t]he President and his immediate advisors are absolutely immune from testimonial compulsion by a congressional committee,” even after leaving office, citing a 2007 memorandum the Justice Department prepared. Ironically, the memo was prepared by the very department that Congress is trying to garner information about.

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