Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the minority leader on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wants to subpoena Valerie Plame to testify again to Congress after the “irreconcilably inconsistent statements” in her previous sworn testimony.
But, it looks like democrats will (surprise!) block the motion even though Plame’s testimony to Congress was observably inconsistent to the testimony she gave to the CIA inspector general and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Raw Story reported:
Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the ranking minority member of the committee, alleged that former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson had given false testimony and prepared to threaten her with a subpoena…
“Valerie Plame Wilson’s sworn statements to this committee are irreconcilably inconsistent with her statements to the CIA inspector general and the Senate Intelligence Committee,” he said in last Wednesday’s hearing.
“I would move the committee direct the chairman to issue a subpoena to Valerie Plame Wilson….She should be summoned to appear before this committee and address the irregularities in her sworn testimony.”
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the committee’s chairman, responded that it was not appropriate to issue a subpoena at that particular moment.
“I don’t want to issue a subpoena before we invite a witness. She did come here voluntarily and if there are questions we want to ask of her and you feel you need an answer, I’ll work with you to get the answers,” the congressman said.
Waxman’s office did not respond to requests from RAW STORY about what steps the committee would take to accommodate the Republicans’ demands.
But Rep. Davis’s office was ready to press ahead with its attempt to re-direct Waxman’s Iraq investigation onto Plame and her statements.
“We’ve asked them to invite her to re-appear,” Brian McNicoll a spokesman for the Republicans on the Oversight Committee said Friday morning. If the committee’s Democratic members don’t accommodate that request, he added, they’d move again to compel Plame Wilson’s testimony.
The Republican effort to subpoena Plame, whose husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, was sent by the CIA to Niger in order to gauge the truth of claims that the African country was supplying uranium to Iraq, faces obstacles that are likely insurmountable. A majority of members of the committee, which is controlled by the Democratic Party since January, must vote to authorize and issue the subpoena.
“It’s not a realistic threat. A majority vote is required for a the committee to issue a subpoena and it is highly unlikely that Rep. Davis will be able to marshal any Democratic votes,” said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of the DC-based group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Sloan is representing the Wilsons in a civil lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials who are accused of blowing Plame’s cover and violating the Wilsons’ privacy.
Instead of confronting Plame for her false statements, it looks like democrats will plow ahead with their bogus political non-scandal investigations.
