A House Judiciary Committee cited two top loyal Bushies with contempt of Congress charges today:

The Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee, on a 22-17 party-line vote, approved citations against Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff, and former counsel Harriet Miers. Bolten refused to turn over documents related to the dismissals, and Miers disobeyed a subpoena to appear before the panel and answer questions about her role in the firings.

The issuance of contempt citations, which also requires approval by the full House of Representatives, would escalate the dispute between Bush and Congress over the president’s assertion of executive privilege to forbid testimony by his aides.

Ignoring the fact that the refusal of the White House to turn over evidence had led to the citation, Republicans argued that the citation was unnecessary because there was no evidence of wrongdoing.