Karl Rove, who had been one of President George W. Bush's top aides, was subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a congressional panel investigating the administration's firing of nine federal prosecutors.House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers issued the subpoena after months of failed efforts to get Rove to voluntarily testify under oath.
The Judiciary Committee, like its Senate counterpart, has been investigating for more than a year the administration's dismissal of nine of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in 2006. Despite White House claims to the contrary, critics charge the firings were politically motivated, perhaps in retaliation for the targeted prosecutors being too soft on Democratic lawmakers or too tough on Republican ones.