Don Siegelman, the former Governor of Alabama who was convicted of corruption and sent to prison in 2007, is out on bond pending resolution of his appeal. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee wants him to testify regarding allegations that his prosecution was politically motivated.
Soooo . . . What will be the fallout of all this, as it relates to the stack of charges against the Bush DoJ for politically-motivated selective prosecutions?
BTW – it hardly seems relevant – but is there any possibility Siegelman is actually innocent of the charges?
You’re right about the relevance of his guilt or innocence. It doesn’t matter much in regards to the discussion about whether Rove and co. should be investigated or tried.
I don’t think this is a significant development in the pile on the DoJ. We don’t really have a smoking gun here, just a couple of people saying “yeah, I heard him say that”, which is precisely what we have with most of the other charges against Rove and the DoJ. I’ll be surprised if this turns into anything significant.
But it could lay a predicate for the House Judiciary Committee summoning Rove to appear and explain himself. Of course, he has already been subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee; but maybe the House will be more energetic in enforcing it.