Well, not a surprise. But former Office of Legal Counsel chief Jay Bybee declined an invitation to testify at today’s Senate hearing about Bush administration torture policies, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) just announced.
“He’s declined through his lawyers to testify before the committee,” Leahy said in his opening statement this morning. “So he has no exonerating information to provide.”
Bybee, now a federal appeals court judge, faces calls for his impeachment. An Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into Bybee and other authors of the Bush-era “enhanced interrogation” memos reportedly recommends bar association action against them. As the controvery has bloomed, Maureen Mahoney of Latham & Watkins began representing Bybee.
The title of today’s hearing is “What Went Wrong: Torture and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush Administration.” It’s being chaired by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), head of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on administrative oversight and the courts.
