Washington – Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt and 11 other members of Congress have been subpoenaed to testify in the trial of a defense contractor charged with bribing jailed former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.
All the lawmakers said they would not comply, on the advice of House attorneys. The House general counsel’s office is preparing to move to quash the subpoenas after failing to get a clear explanation of why the testimony is needed, according to the staff of subpoenaed Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
The subpoenas were issued by attorneys for contractor Brent Wilkes, who faces trial Oct. 2 in San Diego on 25 counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in connection with his relationship with Cunningham.
Cunningham, a Republican who represented a California district, is serving eight years in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for millions of dollars in government contracts.
Wilkes’ attorney, Mark Geragos, did not immediately respond to phone messages.
In addition to Issa; Blunt, R-Mo.; and Hastert, R-Ill.; Geragos is seeking testimony from Reps. Jerry Weller, R-Ill.; Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas; Ike Skelton, D-Mo.; John Murtha, D-Pa.; California Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter, John Doolittle, and Jerry Lewis; Republican Reps. Peter Hoekstra and Joe Knollenberg of Michigan; and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.
A number of the subpoenaed lawmakers received campaign donations or other favors from Wilkes as he sought to curry connections in Washington.
