Sunday, December 21, 2008, 4:22pm
QUESTION: You have claimed Karl Rove was a driving force behind your prosecution.
SIEGELMAN: We know from documentary evidence and from testimony that Rove was involved in the firing of the US attorneys [at the start of Bush's second term] and he's been identified at the scene of the crime in my case. We know that others worked with Rove to carry out his conspiracies to subvert our system of justice and to abuse the power of his office and to misuse the power of the Department of Justice for political purposes.
QUESTION: Some people believe Rove wanted your political career damaged because of your standing in the Democratic Party.
SIEGELMAN: I had endorsed Al Gore in 2000--the first governor to do so--and it wasn't long after that that they started the investigation. I had made plans after my 2002 re-election--which I ultimately lost because of the bad press generated by these investigations--to hit the primary states. I had been secretary of state for eight years, attorney general for four years, lieutenant governor for four years, and governor for four years--I had all these friends around the country--so I thought I could gin up a campaign not for me but against George W. Bush, against his war, against his economic policies, and against his education policies.
There is no question in my mind that Rove played a key role in what happened to me. From the beginning, the investigation was started by Rove's client, the state attorney general Mark Pryor; then the prosecution was carried out by the wife of Rove's best friend and his former business partner. [They had previously worked as political consultants together in Alabama.] We have a live witness who claims that Bill Canary--Rove's partner--said Rove had taken my case to the Department of Justice. Now it's up to Congress--and the House and the Senate judiciary committees--to bring Rove before the House Judiciary Committee.
QUESTION: Actually, the House Judiciary Committee has already subpoenaed Rove to testify and he has refused to appear.
SIEGELMAN: That's why it's so important for the House and the Senate to hold Rove in contempt of Congress and exercise their inherent authority to enforce that subpoena by sending the Capital police to go get him and bring him in or by pursuing the thing through litigation. But one way or the other, it is critically important that the subpoena be upheld. Otherwise, it sends the message to all his accomplices that they are free to carry out their mischief in the future with impunity because nothing is going to happen to him.