ALABAMA EXPOSURE: Don Siegelman wants Karl Rove to Testify

www.tuscaloosanews.com
August 23, 2009

For several years, former Gov. Don Siegelman has been demanding that Karl Rove, adviser to former President George W. Bush, testify to Congress about his alleged actions in Siegelman’s federal criminal case.

Siegelman was convicted of bribery charges in federal court in 2006. Last month, Rove was interviewed over two days by U.S. House Judiciary Committee lawyers under an “agreement of accommodation.”

Here’s the relevant Siegelman question and response, according to the unofficial transcript on the committee’s Web site:

“In fact, you did have an interest in the Siegelman case, didn’t you?” asked Elliot Mincberg, majority chief counsel of investigations and oversight.

Rove said, “I had a lot more pressing things on my platter than the [2006] Alabama governor’s race, and, as a result, a lot more significant things to worry about than the Don Siegelman case.”

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., in a press release about Rove’s interview, focused on Rove’s alleged involvement in the alleged illegal firing of certain U.S. attorneys during Bush’s term.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Rove said Siegelman and Rainsville lawyer Jill Simpson “refused to cooperate with the Justice Department’s review” while Rove willingly testified.

Simpson said that’s a lie. She gave sworn testimony to committee staffers on Sept. 14, 2007. And Siegelman was never called to testify, although he said he would have.

“In fact, there’s no indication that the Justice Department has considered the prima facie evidence of lying, concealment of evidence and witness intimidation by federal prosecutors,” the Huffington Post reported.

Siegelman’s attorney Vince Kilborn, in The Birmingham News, said he doesn’t believe Rove’s denial.

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