Mukasey Subpoenaed for Terrorism Memos
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey to testify and provide Justice Department memos on terrorism legal advice.
Leahy, a Democrat, says the committee has obtained only a fraction of the documents it is seeking, the Associated Press reports. The subpoena orders Mukasey to appear by Nov. 18 and to bring documents from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Leahy writes in letter accompanying the subpoena that “we have learned far more about OLC opinions from press accounts and books than we have from the executive branch,” reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in a statement that the DOJ has worked in good faith to balance the need to satisfy requests for documents with the need to provide confidential legal advice to the executive branch. “We will now assess our next steps,” he said.
Some Republicans have claimed Leahy’s efforts to obtain the documents are motivated by partisan politics.
