The White House has made its first offer to House and Senate Democrats who want Karl Rove and Harriet Mires to testify before Congress about the now-controversial firing of several US attorneys. In a closed-doors meeting with Democrats, this is what White House counsel Fred Fielding suggested: a private interview in which members of the House and Senate judiciary committees could talk to Rove and Miers, neither of whom would be under oath. And no transcript would be made of the chat. Just a pleasant, informal, not-for-public-consumption discussion. Left out of the White House offer: what sort of tea would be served.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative John Conyers, after leaving the meeting with Fielding, said this was not good enough. They have a simple argument on their side: given that Bush administration officials, including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, have already made misleading statements about this case (such as falsely claiming the White House and Rove were not involved in the dismissals), no administration official should be allowed to talk to Congress unless he or she is under oath.

The Dems immediately huddled to consider how to respond to Fielding--as the White House told reporters George W. Bush believes that he's been quite generous in offering the Democrats even this much and that the Ds should not expect any more. Certainly, the last thing Bush wants is to establish a precedent in which congressional investigators can grill his close aides about their actions, decisions and conversations. This is turning into a test of how tough the congressional Democrats are willing to get with the White House.

Posted by David Corn at March 20, 2007 03:28 PM