State Dept Will Comply with Subpoenas

ABC News’ Kirit Radia Reports: The State Department intends to comply with subpoenas from a congressional watchdog committee, a senior State Department official told ABC News.

Just hours after the watchdog committee threatened Thursday to subpoena the State Department for documents and interviews on "Corruption in Iraq," as requested in a previous letter, the House Oversight Committee did just that.  Late on Thursday, Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., quietly issued a subpoena for documents and depositions from three department officials.

While the committee didn’t name the officials that received depositions, Waxman’s letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that it wanted to interview three officials from the Office of Accountability and Transparency: Vincent Foulk, Christopher Griffith, and James Santelle. The letter also requested documents from the Office of Accountability and Transparency’s reports.

The committee intends to hold a hearing next Thursday on the subject.

A senior State Department official said that the department is in the process of producing the documents for the committee and that the officials requested are in Baghdad and will eventually be made available to the committee.