Waxman to Mukasey: Ahem

Maybe his last letter got lost in the mail?

In a bit of epistolary throat-clearing, House oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote Attorney General Michael Mukasey today to reiterate his request two weeks ago. The White House has arbitrarily blocked former Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald from turning over records of his interviews during the Valerie Plame leak investigation of White House officials, including the President, Waxman wrote then, but it’s your call, Mikey, not theirs, on whether to fork it over. Apparently Waxman got no response.

Waxman adds helpfully in his letter today (which you can read below) that since Scooter Libby has dropped his appeal, “there remains no further pending litigation associated with the Fitzgerald investigation.”

He concludes: “I urge you to cooperate with Congress’ investigation into these unanswered questions.”

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

On December 3, 2007, I wrote you to request documents from the Department of Justice from Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. I have not received a response from you to my inquiry.

Since I wrote you on December 3, Lewis I. “Scooter” Libby has dropped the appeal of his criminal conviction arising from the Fitzgerald investigation. With that action, there remains no further pending litigation associated with the Fitzgerald investigation.

I do not regard the existence of an on-going investigation or pending litigation as a sufficient reason to withhold information from Congress. Now that Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation and Mr. Libby’s appeal have both ended, however, there should be no basis for further delay in responding to the Committee’s request. Thus, I request that you provide the Committee by January 3, 2008, with the documents requested in the Committee’s July 16 letter to Mr. Fitzgerald, including the reports of interviews with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other White House officials.

Last week, you wrote several congressional committees about the investigation into the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes. You resisted providing information to the committees because of your concern that providing information could undermine the Justice Department’s on-going investigation. In the Plame matter, there is no pending Justice Department investigation and no pending Justice Department litigation. Whatever the merits of the position you are taking in the CIA tapes inquiry, those considerations do not apply here.

There remain important questions about the leak of Ms. Wilson’s identity and the White House response that have not been answered by the prosecution and conviction of Mr. Libby and the commutation of his sentence. I urge you to cooperate with Congress’ investigation into these unanswered questions

If you have any questions regarding my request, please contact me personally or ask your staff to contact David Rapallo or Theodore Chuang of the Committee staff at (202) 225-5420.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman
Chairman