Keith Ellison: “Well, Mr. Chairman, I mean, Josh Bolten, Karl Rove and Harriet Miers were served with subpoenas to appear in front of…”

“Well, Mr. Chairman, I mean, Josh Bolten, Karl Rove and Harriet Miers were served with subpoenas to appear in front of the Judiciary Committee within the context of the law. We followed the rules when we authorized those subpoenas to be served upon them, and the White House told them not to come. Now, there may one day be a Republican administration, a Republican House, I mean, we're Democrats now, but one day things may change. Do we really want to set up a situation, no matter who's in charge, where an individual can simply scofflaw or skip over or just ignore a subpoena of the Judiciary Committee? I think it sets a horrible precedent, no matter who is in charge of our government. And so I think you're right. This is a forward-looking process. This is not about settling scores. This is about setting the record straight. I think it's important that the American people really know what happened. I mean, extraordinary rendition. I was in a committee hearing one day when a man named Maher Arar, who is a Canadian of Syrian ancestry, was explaining how he had come from Europe through New York and was on his way to Canada when he was scooped up by representatives of our government and then held incommunicado, sent to Syria, and was tortured and was eventually released. The Canadian Government did a full investigation of the whole matter and came to the conclusion that they grabbed the wrong guy. Oops.…”