Wilkes Subpoenas 13 Lawmakers

Brent Wilkes goes subpoena crazy. From the AP:

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt and 11 other members of Congress have been subpoenaed to testify in the trial of a defense contractor charged with bribing jailed former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

All of the lawmakers said they do not intend to comply with the subpoenas.

It’s not clear what the method is behind the madness. Wilkes’ lawyers didn’t respond to the AP’s calls and the lawmakers say the subpoena comes out of left field. They also say that they’ve been advised by the counsel that it would be against House rules for them to comply.

It’s a pretty impressive roster Wilkes’ is after (9 GOPers, 4 Dems), including House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha (D-PA) and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Some, like Lewis, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), had been reported to be involved with Wilkes. Most of the others have not.

So it’s anybody’s guess as to what Wilkes’ lawyers got cooking. Wilkes came out last year to offer the defense that he didn’t bribe lawmakers — it was the other way around: they shook him down. “Transactional lobbying” (i.e. no free favors) was his phrase for it. Perhaps the subpoenas were part of that defense strategy?

Wilkes’ trial for his alleged bribes of Cunningham was originally scheduled for October, but that seems unlikely to happen, meaning that a more likely trial date would be early next year.