Rove’s lawyer asserted that Rove was “immune” from the subpoena the committee had issued, arguing that the committee could not compel him to testify due to “executive privilege.”
The panel is investigating allegations that Rove and his White House allies dismissed U.S. attorneys and prosecuted officials who they saw as political opponents.
The panel subpoenaed Rove in May after his lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, made clear the former White House deputy chief of staff would not appear voluntarily.
Luskin responded immediately that Rove still would not appear, prompting a threat of prosecution from the Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, and Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat who chairs the subcommittee on commercial and administrative law.
“A refusal to appear in violation of the subpoena could subject Mr. Rove to contempt proceedings, including statutory contempt under federal law and proceedings under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives,” Conyers and Sanchez wrote.
“We are unaware of any proper legal basis for Mr. Rove’s refusal to even appear today as required by the subpoena,” Sanchez said Thursday morning when Rove failed to show up. “The courts have made clear that no one—not even the president—is immune from compulsory process. That is what the Supreme Court rules in U.S. v. Nixon and Clinton v. Jones.”
In May, Conyers contrasted Rove’s refusal to testify before Congress with his paid work as a commentator for the Fox News Channel and Newsweek magazine.
“Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters.”
Rove’s lawyer cited a letter from the Justice Department saying Rove is “constitutionally immune from compelled congressional testimony.” He said Rove is willing to submit to an “informal interview” or to answer written questions about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, whose ouster Rove is accused of orchestrating.
“Threatening Mr. Rove with sanctions will not in any way expedite the resolution of the issue,” Luskin wrote in a letter to the panel on Wednesday.
]]>In Thailand, a Southeast Asian hub for pirated goods where Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone is not officially for sale, dealers boast they only need a few weeks to smuggle in the trendy phones and “unlock” them for use on local mobile networks.
“I’m taking orders this weekend and you’ll get it by the end of July. We can sign a contract guaranteeing you will get it,” Toew, a phone dealer who is offering 8 gigabyte 3G iPhones for 29,000 baht ($860) on the Internet, told Reuters.
At Bangkok’s MBK centre—a treasure trove of pirated DVDs, clothing and luxury goods—many shops are advertising hacked iPhones with signs that read: “Good price, we unlock very fast.”
Trading iPhones via the Internet has become more popular in recent months, with prices for the current iPhone soaring 25-30 percent due to tight supply and rumors that the 3G iPhone cannot be hacked despite the claims of online shops.
An old iPhone with 8-gigabytes of memory now costs 22,000-24,500 baht, up from 16,500-18,500. A model with twice the memory fetches 25,000-28,000 baht, up around 5,000 baht from a few months ago.
“I’m an iPhone addict now. I’m going to sell the old one and buy the 3G phone. No matter what the price is, I’ll get one,” said Tana Tanaraugsachock, a 41-year old financial executive, who bought her first iPhone during a trip to the United States.
A poll by a local website showed more than 77 percent of 2,000 respondents want to buy the new phone, which Apple says has faster Web links faster than the old version and supports third-party software like games.
]]>Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook engaged in a contentious divorce trial.
The settlement was reached at 6:15 a.m. after an all-night session that resolved all issues between Brinkley and her estranged husband, architect Peter Cook, Brinkley’s lawyer, Robert Stephan Cohen, told the court.
Under the agreement, Brinkley will give Cook $2.1 million but keep 18 properties in the Hamptons that were at dispute. Cook will get parenting time with the children, under an agreement mutually satisfactory to both.
Cohen said the remainder of the settlement was confidential.
Brinkley, 54, was married to Cook for a decade before his affair with a teenager he met in a Southampton toy store catapulted their troubles into the public spotlight in 2006. Video Watch Brinkley talk about “the death of a marriage” »
The trial, which was in its sixth day, revealed a litany of salacious allegations about Cook’s affair with 18-year-old Diana Bianchi, as well as interactive Internet sex liaisons that cost him thousands of dollars a month. Cook, 49, testified he gave Bianchi a $300,000 payoff after having trysts with her in his office and Brinkley’s Hamptons homes for several months in 2005.
The former Sports Illustrated model said she was devastated to learn of the affair from the teen’s stepfather, moments after Brinkley delivered a commencement speech at Southampton High School.
Despite a prenuptial agreement, the couple feuded in court over child custody and bickered over properties Cook advised Brinkley to buy in the Hamptons.
The couple have a daughter, Sailor, 10. Cook adopted Brinkley’s 13-year-old son Jack, whom she had with her third husband, Richard Taubman.
Brinkley and her attorneys contended that Cook’s admitted adultery and pornographic proclivities made him an unsuitable candidate for child custody.
“Anyone who would run the risk of destroying this wonderful life, anybody that would chase a teenager—I mean, a young girl—where is his judgment?” she said from the witness stand.
It was not clear what sparked the move toward conciliation after days of embittered testimony, but on Tuesday a court-appointed psychiatrist said Brinkley should be granted custody. Dr. Stephen Herman said Cook deserved liberal access to the children, but added that both parents were in need of counseling to deal with their personal issues.
]]>Light, sweet crude settled $5.60 higher to $141.65 a barrel. Prices had soared as high as $142.04 just before the settlement.
Traders said rumors that Iran test fired more missiles and of the apparent end of a cease-fire in Nigeria pushed prices up at the end of the trading day.
When global supply is as tight as it is right now, traders do not wait to confirm rumors, said Neal Dingmann, senior energy analyst at Dahlman Rose & Co.
“People are shooting first and asking questions later,” he said, especially when the rumors are concerned such oil-rich countries as Iran and Nigeria.
Iran media reported that Tehran had test-fired a series of missiles in the Persian Gulf for the second day on Thursday, putting investors on edge.
However, American radar and satellite data do not back the reports. A senior military source said that Iran launched only one missile on Thursday, not a full round of tests, according to the latest U.S. intelligence assessments.
Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures, said that tensions throughout the Middle East are pushing up the price of oil, but he said that the recent events in Iran are of particular concern today.
]]>Democrats blasted Gramm, who advises presumed Republican nominee McCain on economic matters, for saying Americans who have named the economy as a top concern this campaign cycle were “a nation of whiners.”
McCain forcefully repudiated the remarks while campaigning in Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
The comments came in a Washington Times interview published Thursday.
“We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline,” said the former Texas senator. “You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession.”
Gramm also said the media was responsible for fostering unnecessary anxiety over the state of the economy. “Misery sells newspapers,” he said. “Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day.”
]]>On Wednesday, authorities announced that recently developed “touch DNA” technology had cleared all members of JonBenet Ramsey’s family of her slaying. The family had lived under a cloud of suspicion for nearly 12 years.
Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy formally apologized in a letter to John Ramsey.
In an interview with CNN affiliate KUSA, John Ramsey said what is needed is “a law that requires police agencies to DNA print individuals arrested for felony and put it in the national database.”
“We have a great national database that’s been set up; it’s been in place for a number of years with very little population in it. There’s a huge backlog of DNA samples from crimes scenes and some states submit samples, some states don’t.”
John Ramsey had a message for lawmakers.
“For those that will have the authority and the power to pass this DNA legislation I think is so important. . . It just hasn’t gotten on the radar in a lot of state legislatures, and it needs to be there.
]]>Recently freed FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt tells Larry King that her captivity was “hell.”
“I really couldn’t even imagine that I was taking the road for seven years,” she told CNN’s “Larry King Live.” “For me, I thought perhaps it could last for three months at the most. I couldn’t imagine what was going to come.”
Betancourt, who has French and Colombian citizenship, was campaigning for the Colombian presidency when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia abducted her in 2002.
She was rescued July 2 in an elaborately planned ruse that hoodwinked FARC captors into giving up Betancourt and 14 other hostages including three American contractors. She spoke to King Tuesday from Paris, France.
“In a way, I thought that [the rebels] knew what my struggle was,” she said. “I thought they were wanting perhaps something like the things I was fighting for. I was fighting for social justice. I was fighting against corruption.” Video Watch Betancourt say her captivity was ‘hell’ »
During the interview, Betancourt talked very slowly and appeared weary. She explained that it had been a long and arduous week.
Her kidnapping was swift and it was hard for her at first to comprehend going from a free person to a prisoner, she said.
“You are a free woman and then you become a prisoner and you receive all kinds of orders. Sit here, stand there. That’s it,” she said. “You just, you don’t have the possibility of even moving to take your bag without asking for permission.”
]]>The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to an all-time high of $4.098 from $4.092 the day before, a daily survey by motorist group AAA showed Thursday.
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]]>The announcement was made shortly before US car manufacturers said sales had plunged to their lowest level for at least 15 years.
Starbucks plans to close the outlets by the end of March 2009 and the related job cuts would reduce the company’s US workforce by at least seven per cent.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a scientific consensus about rising sea temperatures, and practically a consensus that the temperature is tied to greater hurricane activity. But, science has not definitively concluded how or if this will impact the US coastal area now facing rising premiums.
]]>The candidates characterize the measure differently. McCain calls the campaign to amend California’s constitution an effort “to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman.” Conversely, Obama stated that he opposed “the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution.”
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