“The Senate and House Intelligence Committees are asking former attorney general John Ashcroft to testify about a March 2004 hospital-room confrontation during which he refused to sign off on a continuation of President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program.”

The sources, who asked not to identified talking about sensitive matters, said the Senate Intelligence Committee has tentatively scheduled a closed-door hearing for later this month. The panel plans to question Ashcroft, his former chief of staff David Ayres and former deputy attorney general James Comey about a heated dispute with the White House that roiled the Justice Department three years ago. The House committee is also planning a separate closed-door hearing with Ashcroft, according to a spokeswoman for Ashcroft.

The requests for Ashcroft’s testimony reflect the mounting frustration on the part of committee leaders in both chambers who feel they have been denied vital information about the wiretapping issue by the Bush administration.

“U.S. officials tell ABC News that the troop levels in Iraq cannot be maintained at the present level, either politically or practically, with the military stretched so thin. But that does not imply an immediate drawdown. Officials tell ABC’s Martha Raddatz the senior commanders in Iraq — Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus — want the surge to continue until at least December, and expect to report enough progress by September to justify the extension.”

The drawdown would begin in February 2008, although each of the two generals supports a slightly different plan.

Plan one, which officials say is being pushed by Odierno, calls for a reduction in troops from roughly 150,000 today to 100,000 by December of 2008.

Petraeus champions a slightly different approach that would be to cut the troops down to roughly 130,000 by the end of 2008, with further reductions the following year.

John Aravosis has more.

“The House plans to trigger another veto showdown with President Bush this week by clearing legislation that would expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research.”

Bush has vowed to veto the measure (S 5), just as he did similar legislation last July 19. A veto override attempt in the House that same day fell 51 votes short of the two-thirds majority required.

The Senate passed the stem cell bill by a 63-34 vote April 11. After accounting for absentees that day, Senate supporters of the measure calculate that they are one vote short of being able to override a veto.

former National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told an audience in DC Wednesday night.

US presence has engendered stability on the Korean peninsula because “the South Koreans welcomed us,” he said. Following the Korean war, the US was viewed as a force for good, protecting the south from the oppression of the north.

But the US presence in Iraq is “much closer to colonialism, imperialism,” Brzezinski explained. A good majority of Iraqis object to the presence of US troops, viewing them as foreign occupiers. Thus, Brzezinski noted, the US could never hope to sustain an enduring presence unless American leaders resigned themselves to facing enduring resistance.

Faced with calls for his resignation and a looming no-confidence vote, Alberto Gonzales today vowed he will remain attorney general through the end of President Bush’s second term. “I know that I only have 18 months left in my term as attorney general,” he said in a speech to law enforcement officials, promising to “sprint to the finish line” to “accomplish all the goals that are important to me.” Watch it:

CNN notes, “News reporters were carefully kept away from the attorney general so he could not be questioned.”

Fox News’ John Gibson to Dan Bartlett today: “A lot has happened obviously in the Bush presidency, and there are undoubtedly things that, in private thoughts, people say, I wish I’d done that differently. What would you take as a do-over?” Bartlett: “Well, there’s too many to count now.”

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported that former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger may have been targeted for removal by the Justice Department because of his role in protecting the rights of Native American voters.

Heffelfinger, who resigned last year for personal reasons, had raised concerns that an effort by the Republican Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, to bar certain uses of Tribal IDs for voter identification would result in electoral discrimination against Indian voters.

Heffelfinger’s efforts to dig deeper into the issue were blocked by two controversial political appointees in the Department, Bradley Schlozman and Hans von Spakovsky, who used bureaucratic measures to prevent an internal department investigation:

After reviewing the matter, Rich recommended opening an investigation.

In response, he said, Bradley Schlozman, a political appointee in the department, told Rich “not to do anything without his approval” because of the “special sensitivity of this matter.”

Rich responded by suggesting that more information be gathered from voting officials in the Twin Cities area, which includes Minnesota’s two most populous counties.

A message came back from another Republican official in the department, Hans von Spakovsky, saying Rich should not contact the county officials but should instead deal only with the secretary of state’s office.

Von Spakovsky indicated, Rich said, that working with Kiffmeyer’s office reduced the likelihood of a leak to the news media.

The orders from Schlozman and Von Spakovsky, who wielded unusual power in the civil rights division, effectively ended any department inquiry, Rich said.

Yesterday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) about Schlozman’s upcoming testimony to Congress, urging Leahy to question him “closely” about:

– his efforts to effectively quash the investigation into possible voter discrimination against Native Americans;

– what role, if any, Tom Heffelfinger’s efforts to protect the voting rights of Minnesota’s Native American communities placed him on the Department’s now infamous list for termination.

Schlozman, who is suspected of politicizing the hiring of non-political jobs in the DoJ’s Civil Rights Division, will testify on Tuesday, June 5.

UPDATE: The Legal Times previews Schlozman’s testimony.