FORT HOOD: OBAMA IGNORES SUBPOENAS

Ah, the pitfalls of going to the mat. Anyone could have seen this coming. When Lieberman's letters to the White House were predictably ignored, he upped the ante by issuing subpoenas to the administration and the Department of Justice, asking for the release of documents relative to the Fort Hood shootings.

Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs appears to have inserted himself into a game of "chicken" with the Obama administration. The question is, how long will he continue playing? Based on this report from the Washington Post, it's Lieberman's move.

Via WaPo:

After days of negotiations, the Pentagon and Justice Department informed a Senate committee that they would not comply with congressional subpoenas to share investigative records from the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Tex., which killed 13 people. The agencies said that divulging the material could jeopardize their prosecution of Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the accused gunman.

Granted, the reaction from Lieberman's office to this latest news is strongly worded....

Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Senate committee, called the refusal by the Pentagon and the Justice Department to hand over all the requested material "an affront to Congress's constitutional obligation to conduct independent oversight of the executive branch."

Unless Lieberman is prepared to go to the mat, such language could be nothing more than a parting shot before the committee chair bows out.

The ball is in Lieberman's court and he is either going to let this matter die or continue to push via subpoenas through the courts.

More on the Fort Hood subpoena story here.

h/t to Free Republic